Well over a year is the honest answer for Los Angeles County, and that is for a case where nobody fights. Two years is common when there is real property to sell or a beneficiary who stops answering email.
The delay is not mostly your attorney working slowly. It is calendar congestion, statutory waiting periods, and the fact that a court hearing in Los Angeles gets set months after you ask for it.
- Filing to first hearing: typically a few months, set by the court's calendar rather than by anything you do
- Appointment to inventory: the probate referee needs time to appraise real property, and referees carry heavy caseloads
- The creditor claim period: a statutory window that runs from notice and simply has to elapse
- Sale of real property, if any, including marketing time and possibly a confirmation hearing
- Final petition to final order: another wait for a hearing date, then time to actually transfer title and distribute
None of those steps individually sounds bad. Stacked end to end, with a continuance or two, you are at fifteen months before anyone has been paid a dollar.
The delays that are actually your fault
Missing heirs. Nobody can find the estranged half-brother in Nevada, and the court will not let the case move until he has been given notice or the search has been documented. Start that search in week one, not in month six when the judge asks.
Incomplete notice is the other one. A defective proof of service means a continued hearing, and a continued hearing in Los Angeles is rarely a two-week setback. Then there is the executor who does not sign and return documents promptly, which sounds trivial until you realize each round trip can cost a hearing cycle.
The house does not wait for you
Property taxes, insurance, and the mortgage keep coming due the entire time the case is open. An empty house in Los Angeles for eighteen months also attracts squatters, deferred maintenance, and neighbors with opinions. Budget for carrying costs, because the estate is paying them out of the beneficiaries' eventual share.
The simplified procedure for a primary residence worth up to $750,000 and the small estate affidavit for other property under the $184,500 threshold both skip the full case. Those are measured in weeks and months, not years. Whether you qualify depends on values as of the date of death, so the first thing worth doing is an honest valuation.
“I had a family in Highland Park who assumed probate would be done by Thanksgiving because that is what the internet told them. It closed the following December. They were fine, because I told them in the first meeting to expect exactly that. Bad news early is a kindness.”
Delia Vasquez-HartCan beneficiaries get money before it ends?
Sometimes. A preliminary distribution can be requested from the court once it is clear the estate has enough left to cover debts and expenses. Judges grant them, but not casually, and not when creditor exposure is still open. If a beneficiary needs cash in month four, the realistic options are a preliminary distribution petition or a third-party advance, and the second one is expensive.
Questions we get asked
Is there a fast track for simple estates?
There is no express lane for a full probate. The statutory waiting periods apply the same way to a simple case. What a simple case avoids is the extra hearings, which is where the real time gets lost.
Does having a will make probate quicker?
Slightly, because the will names an executor and the court is not sorting out priority among relatives. It does not avoid probate and it does not shorten the statutory periods.
What is the single biggest accelerator?
Getting complete, accurate notice out correctly the first time, and having the original will in hand at filing. Both of those are within your control.
Can the case stay open longer on purpose?
Yes, and occasionally it should, for instance while a tax matter or a lawsuit resolves. Closing early and distributing into an unresolved liability is worse than waiting.
If your case is already open and stalled, send us the case number and the last minute order and we will tell you what the actual bottleneck is before you decide whether to change counsel.