Glendale and its downtown towers below the Verdugo Mountains.

Probate · Glendale

Probate in Glendale

Glendale below the Verdugo Mountains. Photo: public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Glendale estates often include more than one house: the family home, a rental, sometimes a building that holds the family business. When they are in a parent’s own name, that means a probate. John J. Donahue handles Glendale probates from his Los Angeles office.

Where a Glendale probate is filed

Glendale is its own city, but it is in Los Angeles County, so its estates go to the county’s Superior Court, Probate Division. Most hearings are at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse downtown, and many can be attended remotely, which matters to Glendale families who would rather not lose a morning on the 5 or the 2. Glendale has its own courthouse, but probate cases are generally heard downtown.

Houses, rentals and a family business

Values. Most Glendale houses, and nearly all of those in the hills toward La Crescenta, are worth well over $750,000, the ceiling for the shorter primary-home petition.
Family businesses. Many Glendale families run a business together. When a parent who owned part of it dies, the estate has to value that share and decide who controls it while the probate runs.
The fee scales with the value. On a $1.3 million estate the basic statutory attorney fee is $26,000, approved by the court and paid from the estate at the end.
Several generations, one estate. Grandparents, parents and grown children often share property or live on the same lot, and who paid for what is not always written down. Read a story like this →

From the calls John gets

The house and the shop

A father owned the family house below the Verdugos and the building where his sons ran the family’s auto shop. He left no trust. One son worked in the business every day; the other moved to San Jose years ago.

What John looks at: Who should be appointed, what the building and the business share are worth, whether the son in the shop has paid fair rent, and whether one brother can buy out the other without stopping the business.

Illustration. Details changed; not a real client. Read a story like this →

Getting started

Find the original will and the trust binder, if there is one, and a copy of the deed. Keep the property insured and the tenant’s rent going to an account the family can document. Then call John; the first call is about what you have and what has arrived in the mail. The first 30 days, as a checklist →

When the estate includes a business

A business cannot pause for a year while a probate runs. The court can give the executor authority to keep it operating, and the family can agree on who manages it day to day. Getting that in place in the first weeks protects customers, employees and the value everyone will share.

Property taxes are the other question. The rules for passing a parent’s lower tax base to a child changed in 2021, and they now generally apply only when the child makes the house their own home, and only up to a limit. Ask before deciding, because the answer changes the math.

In families’ own words

What Glendale families ask

Will a Glendale case be heard in Glendale?

Usually not. Los Angeles County hears nearly all of its probate cases at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse downtown, and many hearings can be attended remotely.