California Probate Administration is no Time for Napping

California’s probate process lasts for at least six months and can run much longer depending on the size of the estate and the particular nature of assets. The personal representative (executor) has the responsibility to resolve creditor claims, get the assets to the appropriate beneficiaries, and execute the estate efficiently. In a recently decided appellate case, the court affirmed the lower court’s opinion that two decades is far too long of a “nap” for a personal representative.

In the Estate of Sapp, Roscoe Sapp, Sr. died in 1994 and left behind seven living children and an estate worth millions. The will, entered into probate in 1995, stated that his real property should go to his children to  “to share + share alike.” After a daughter was removed as personal representative in 1999, Edith Rogers, a granddaughter, and two other grandchildren were appointed as representatives. But by 2001, only Edith and another representative remained, and they petitioned the court for instructions because they disagreed on how they should proceed because some of the remaining heirs were disabled and unable to care for themselves. The court sided with the other co-representative and instructed the estate to sell all the real property assets and distribute the proceeds. Two years later, the co-representative died, leaving Edith as sole personal representative of her grandfather’s estate.

No surprise, but Edith did not follow the court’s instructions. Though four real properties were apparently sold in 2004, the remaining nine parcels still were unsold in 2017. Another grandchild, Armuress Sapp, filed a petition to be named successor administrator because Edith was ineffective by removing the real estate from active listings, not paying heirs and creditors, and even allegedly offered to pay approximately ten family members $10,000 each to “just sign off and walk away.”

In April 2017, the probate court in Riverside County granted the petitions to remove Edith as administrator pursuant to California Probate Code section 8502 and appointed Armuress as successor administrator.

See Christopher Miles Kolkey, California Probate Administration is no Time for Napping, Trust on Trial, July 2, 2019.

Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (Professional Legal Marketing (PLM, Inc.)) for bringing this article to my attention.