Your spouse died and the house is still in both names. That rarely needs a full probate.
California treats property passing to a surviving spouse differently from everything else. Depending on how the home and accounts were titled, the fix can be a recorded affidavit, a single court petition, or no administration at all.
There is no dollar limit on the spousal route — unlike every other simplified path.
How property reaches a surviving spouse
Which one applies depends on how title was held, not on the value of the estate. Your Legal Document Assistant reads the actual deed before anything is prepared.
When you might actually want a lawyer.
A clean, uncontested spousal transfer does not need an attorney — we prepare and file it for a flat fee. Some situations genuinely call for legal judgment, and we will tell you upfront rather than take a case we shouldn't.
- Children from a prior marriage dispute the transfer
- A prenuptial or postnuptial agreement affects the property
- The character of the property (community vs separate) is contested
- Significant unresolved debts against the estate
A fraction of the cost. A fraction of the wait.
Whether your situation needs an affidavit or a petition, you pay a flat fee, not an attorney's hourly bill.
- Hourly billing for a largely procedural filing
- Attorney rates even when the deed makes the answer obvious
- Statutory fees if it is pushed toward full probate
- The no-court route whenever the title supports it
- Prepared, filed, served, and tracked to the signed order
- A registered California LDA — a real person you can call
Three steps. No legalese.
Tell us what happened
Talk it through with a real person, free — or answer five plain-language questions and see which path your situation qualifies for. Either way, nothing to pay to find out.
We prepare the documents
We generate your filing-ready paperwork, and a California-registered Legal Document Assistant reviews every document before it reaches you. Revisions are included.
You sign, we file & serve
Your LDA files with the court and serves every person the statute requires — the part self-filers most often get wrong — then tracks the case to the signed order. You are not calling the clerk. On the no-court paths there is nothing to file or serve: we build the recording packet to your county’s rules, and you can record it yourself or we can.
A real California LDA behind every filing.
ProbateClear isn't a faceless app. Your documents are prepared and reviewed by registered, bonded California Legal Document Assistants — licensed professionals who do this every day.
I became a founding partner because ProbateClear does the heavy document lifting — so I can focus on what families need most from me: careful review and a steady hand through the process.
Probate paperwork rewards structure: the right documents, prepared correctly, filed on time. That's the discipline I built over a career in IT and project management — now in service of families.
After years inside law firms, I watched families pay full attorney rates for paperwork that never needed one. For a straightforward estate, that money should stay with the family — and that's what I get to protect here.
Start with the first-30-days checklist.
A calm, plain-English guide to settling a California estate in the first 30 days — what to handle, and in what order, so you always know your next step. We'll email it to you.
Find out which one applies to your home.
Talk it through with a registered California Legal Document Assistant — free — or answer five questions and see which route your title supports.