Probate and estate bonds in California

• The decedent died without a will, so there is no instrument to waive the bond.
• The will is silent on bond, which leaves section 8480 operating by default.
• A beneficiary declines to sign a waiver, or one of the beneficiaries is a minor and cannot.
• The court finds good cause to require one anyway, which it may do on its own motion.
• The personal representative lives outside California. Section 8571 lets the court require a bond of a non-resident representative at its discretion, and that power survives a waiver.

Section 8481(a) removes the requirement in two situations: the will waives bond, or all beneficiaries sign written waivers filed with the petition. The second route fails if the will affirmatively requires a bond, which overrides beneficiary consent. Either way section 8481(b) lets the court require a bond for good cause, on petition or on its own motion, before or after letters issue. A waiver in the will is therefore a strong starting position, not a guarantee.

Section 8571 is the provision to read, and it is easy to miss because it sits outside the sections that set the bond. Notwithstanding any other provision of the chapter, and notwithstanding a waiver of bond, the court may in its discretion require a non-resident personal representative to give a bond in an amount the court determines. That is a standalone power: it needs no good-cause finding under section 8481(b), and it operates over a waiver in the will or one signed by the beneficiaries. An executor living outside California who holds a will waiving bond should expect the question to be put, and should not treat the waiver as having settled it.

Section 13100 lets a successor collect personal property by affidavit where the estate falls under the small-estate threshold, once 40 days have passed since the death. The threshold is adjusted every three years under section 890, by reference to the Consumer Price Index and rounded to the nearest $25, and section 890(c) requires the Judicial Council to publish the current amounts and the date of the next adjustment. Take the figure from there or from the court, not from a secondary source quoting an older one — and note that under section 890(d) an adjustment does not apply where the decedent died before it took effect. Where the estate qualifies, the transfer happens outside probate and no bond arises at all.

Tell us the bond amount the court set and we will place it. Most California files are issued the same day once the application is in.

• Probate bonds in Texas — A will can dispense with the bond where the court finds the executor qualified, and the amount is built from personal property rather than land.
• Probate bonds in New York — The Surrogate's Court counts eighteen months of rents in the bond, and a non-domiciliary executor can be required to post one even where the will excuses it.
• Probate bonds in Arizona — A bond is required unless the will or every heir waives it, and real estate counts toward the amount unless the letters restrict sales to court confirmation.
• Probate bonds in Michigan — No bond is required in an informal proceeding, until a beneficiary or creditor over the threshold files a written demand — which needs no court finding.
• Probate bonds in Pennsylvania — A bond is required before letters issue, and the section 3174 exemptions are conditioned on the personal representative living in Pennsylvania.

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