John J. Donahue

Will & Trust Contests · Los Angeles

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Irvine office towers and neighborhoods stretching toward the hills.

Probate · Irvine

Probate in Irvine

Irvine from above. Photo: Kevin Zollman, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Irvine homes are newer than most in Southern California, and many parents here set up a living trust. When they did not, or the trust was never finished, a house in a parent’s own name means a probate. John J. Donahue handles Irvine estates in the Orange County court.

Where a Irvine probate is filed

Irvine is in Orange County, so its estates go to the Orange County Superior Court. Its probate clerk’s office and courtrooms are at the Costa Mesa Justice Complex on Harbor Boulevard, and many hearings can be attended remotely. Older guides still point to Santa Ana or Orange; the hearing notice is the thing to trust.

HOAs, Mello-Roos and trusts with gaps

  • Values. Nearly every Irvine house and most of its townhomes are worth more than $750,000, the ceiling for the shorter primary-home petition.
  • HOAs and special taxes. Most Irvine homes carry homeowners association dues and many carry Mello-Roos special taxes. Those bills keep coming after a death, and an unpaid HOA can record a lien against the house.
  • The fee scales with the value. On a $1.8 million estate the basic statutory attorney fee is $31,000, approved by the court and paid from the estate at the end.
  • Trust administration, not probate. When the house is in a trust, there is usually no court case at all, but the trustee still has duties, notices to send and a deadline that starts running. Read a story like this →

From the calls John gets

The townhome in Woodbridge

A mother’s trust left everything to her two sons, but she refinanced her Woodbridge townhome five years before she died, and the lender put it back in her own name. Nobody noticed until escrow asked for the trustee’s authority.

What John looks at: Whether the townhome can be confirmed as a trust asset with a short court petition instead of a probate, and how the HOA dues and the mortgage get paid while that happens.

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 trust is missing one piece

A trust only controls what was actually put into it. A refinance, a new account or an inheritance received late in life can leave one asset outside. California lets a trustee ask the court to confirm that asset belongs to the trust, which is usually far faster and cheaper than a full probate.

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 Irvine families ask

Is this handled in Los Angeles?

No. Orange County estates go to the Orange County Superior Court in Costa Mesa. John J. Donahue’s office is in Los Angeles, and Orange County hearings are often attended remotely.

Can we sell with the tenant in place?

Often, yes. Many rental properties sell with tenants in place, rent-controlled units especially. The executor needs the court’s authority first.

Can the executor be paid?

Yes. California sets the executor’s fee the same way as the lawyer’s, and family executors often waive it to leave more for the heirs.

Stories from families like yours

An older woman’s hand reaches toward a shelf in a wood-paneled den where two thick binders sit beside a lamp and a framed family photo.

The unfinished trust

“There was a trust. The house just never made it in.”

Dad paid for a trust and kept the binder on the shelf. Nobody ever put the house in it.

An older man’s hands spread bank statements across a dining table at night beside a checkbook register, a lamp and a cup of coffee.

The helper

“By the time she died, the accounts were already empty.”

A cousin helped with the bills, then held the power of attorney. After the funeral, the statements told the rest.

A gray-haired woman stands in her late mother’s small living room with half-packed boxes, an old armchair and afternoon light through the blinds.

The house in Mom’s name

“Mom kept it simple. Now nobody can sell the house.”

No trust, no fight, just a house in Mom’s name. And nothing moves without the court.

Probate anywhere in Orange County →

Elsewhere John works

Probate, explainedProbate litigationWill and trust contests in IrvineProbate in Los Angeles CountyProbate in Orange CountyProbate in Los AngelesProbate in Santa MonicaProbate in PasadenaProbate in Beverly HillsProbate in Long BeachProbate in GlendaleProbate in TorranceProbate in WhittierProbate in Huntington Beach