Serving a Heggstad Petition: Who Gets Notice, and How

A Heggstad petition asks the probate court to confirm that property left in a decedent’s name belongs to her trust. (Prob. Code, § 850, subd. (a)(3)(B); Estate of Heggstad (1993) 16 Cal.App.4th 943.) The merits are often simple. Notice is where petitions stall. Miss someone who was entitled to notice, or mail papers to someone who had to be served in person, and the first hearing gets continued while you fix it.

This article covers who gets notice of a Heggstad petition and how, starting with the statutes and moving to the people most often missed: lenders, banks and tenants. Most of it applies to any section 850 petition. The same questions come up on other petitions that change who owns property, such as spousal property petitions and petitions to determine succession to a primary residence, though each has its own notice statute.

Two statutes decide who gets notice and how it is given

Probate Code section 851 governs notice of every section 850 petition, and it sorts the people entitled to notice into two groups.

The first group must be served the way a summons is served in a civil case, at least 30 days before the hearing, with the notice of hearing and a copy of the petition. (Prob. Code, § 851, subd. (a).) This group includes the trustee or other fiduciary, if that person is not the petitioner, and “[e]ach person claiming an interest in, or having title to or possession of, the property.” (Id., subd. (a)(1), (2).)

Everyone else entitled to notice receives it under the general notice statute for that kind of matter. For a trust, that statute is section 17203. (Prob. Code, § 851, subd. (b)(3).) Section 17203 requires notice to all trustees and all beneficiaries at least 30 days before the hearing, delivered under section 1215, which usually means first-class mail. (Prob. Code, § 17203, subd. (a).) It also requires service like a summons on “any person, other than a trustee or beneficiary, whose right, title, or interest would be affected by the petition.” (Id., subd. (b).) When the matter concerns a decedent’s estate instead, notice goes to the people listed in section 1220 “along with any heir or devisee whose interest in the property may be affected by the petition.” (Prob. Code, § 851, subd. (b)(1).)

Two more rules complete the framework. The court may not shorten the 30 days. (Prob. Code, § 851, subd. (d).) And anyone entitled to notice may waive it “by a writing signed by the person or the person’s attorney and filed in the proceeding.” (Prob. Code, § 1204.)

In plain English: trustees and beneficiaries get the papers by mail. Anyone who holds the property, claims a piece of it, or stands to lose something if the petition is granted gets formal service. Formal service means service in the manner the summons statutes allow (Code Civ. Proc., § 413.10 and following), and most of the time that means a process server hands the papers to the person. (Code Civ. Proc., § 415.10.) Substituted service, notice and acknowledgment, and mail service outside California also count, but each has its own timing; the notice chapter of our Heggstad practice guide has a table and a deadline calculator.

Mail is enough

Prob. Code, §§ 1215, 17203, subd. (a)

• Trustees
• Beneficiaries
• Heirs who take the same share on the same terms

Serve like a summons

Prob. Code, §§ 851, subd. (a), 17203, subd. (b)

• Heirs with a smaller or restricted share
• Disinherited heirs
• Lenders and other lienholders
• Banks holding the account
• Tenants and other occupants

When every heir takes the same share on the same terms, first-class mail is enough

Heirs matter because a Heggstad order moves property out of the decedent’s probate estate. If the court denied the petition, the property would pass under her will or, if she left none, to her heirs by intestate succession. So the question for each heir is whether the petition changes what that heir receives.

In the simplest case, it changes nothing. Say a widow dies leaving three adult children, and her trust leaves everything to the three of them in equal shares, outright. By intestate succession, each child would also take a third. (Prob. Code, § 6402, subd. (a).) Each child gets the same thing whether the house passes through the trust or outside it. The children are beneficiaries, so first-class mail under section 17203 is enough, and the mailing proof on page 2 of form DE-115 covers them. Signed waivers or consents are better still, because they show the examiner that nobody objects. (Prob. Code, § 1204.)

An heir whose share comes with strings attached may be entitled to more than mail

Now change one fact. The trust still divides everything equally among the three children, but one son’s third stays in a subtrust: the trustee holds it until he turns 40, or for a set number of years, and makes distributions only in the trustee’s discretion. By intestate succession he would take his third outright, today.

On paper he is a beneficiary, and section 17203 lets beneficiaries receive notice by mail. But he is also the heir with the most to gain if the house turns out not to be trust property, which makes him the person most likely to claim an interest in it. A person claiming an interest in the property is entitled to service like a summons. (Prob. Code, § 851, subd. (a)(2).) We serve heirs in his position like a summons, or get their signed consent and waiver. A process server costs far less than a continued hearing, and it takes the question off the examiner’s list.

Heirs who are disinherited, in whole or in part, should be served like a summons

A fully disinherited heir is not a beneficiary at all, so section 17203’s mail rule does not reach him. He is, though, a “person, other than a trustee or beneficiary, whose right, title, or interest would be affected by the petition,” and the statute requires service on that person like a summons. (Prob. Code, § 17203, subd. (b).)

Some counties spell out which heirs must receive notice. In Riverside and Santa Cruz, in the usual trust case with no probate proceeding, notice must go to every beneficiary named in every known will and codicil, whether admitted to probate or not, and to all heirs at law. (Super. Ct. Riverside County, Local Rules, rule 7139(B)(1)(d); Super. Ct. Santa Cruz County, Local Rules, rule 4.4.07(d)(1)(d).) San Joaquin requires the petition to list each known intestate heir among the people to be served. (Super. Ct. San Joaquin County, Local Rules, rule 4-114(B)(2).)

An heir who is partly disinherited, one who takes a smaller share under the trust than by intestacy, stands where the son with the subtrust stands, and we serve him the same way. These are the people most likely to object, and an order entered without proper notice to them is the order most likely to be challenged later.

If you can’t find an heir, document a diligent search and ask the court early for an order on how to give notice. (Prob. Code, § 1212; Code Civ. Proc., §§ 413.30, 415.50; Cal. Rules of Court, rule 7.52.) Our article on tracking down missing heirs covers the search.

The lender holds an interest in the property, so it must be served too

After heirs and beneficiaries, the party most often forgotten is the lender. A lender with a recorded deed of trust claims an interest in the property, so it is entitled to service like a summons. (Prob. Code, § 851, subd. (a)(2).) The same is true of anyone else holding a recorded lien. A reverse mortgage usually means two deeds of trust: one for the lender and a second in favor of the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

Counties have been inconsistent about enforcing this, but more of them now ask. San Bernardino’s rule, adopted in 2024 and amended in 2025, requires a section 850 petition to “include a statement listing all encumbrances (such as, but not limited to, liens, mortgages, and third-party claims) to the subject property.” (Super. Ct. San Bernardino County, Local Rules, rule 20-613(c).) San Diego adopted the same requirement effective January 1, 2026. (Super. Ct. San Diego County, Local Rules, rule 4.3.11(C).) San Joaquin requires the petition to list, among the people to be served, “[e]ach person claiming an interest in or having title to, or possession of, the property.” (Super. Ct. San Joaquin County, Local Rules, rule 4-114(B)(1).) And Riverside requires every section 850 petition to state the names and last known addresses of everyone entitled to notice under section 851, which by statute includes the lender. (Super. Ct. Riverside County, Local Rules, rule 7139(A).)

Serving the lender rarely invites a fight. A Heggstad order does not change the lender’s security, and the petition should say so: ask the court to confirm the property as a trust asset subject to the recorded deed of trust, identified by recording date and document number.

Find the current lienholder in the title records, then find its agent with the Secretary of State

Knowing you must serve the lender is the easy part. Knowing which company to serve is harder, because loans are sold and deeds of trust are assigned. Here is the method we use:

1. Pull title through a provider you trust, and find the most recent deed of trust against the property and any recorded assignment of it.
2. Identify the current beneficiary of record: the lender named in the deed of trust, or the last assignee if the beneficial interest has been assigned. The company that sends the monthly statement (the loan servicer) is often a different company.
3. Look up that beneficiary on the Secretary of State’s California Business Search at bizfileonline.sos.ca.gov. Search the exact legal name, choose the entity whose status is Active and whose name and entity type match, and open its record.
4. Serve its agent for service of process at the address on the record. (Code Civ. Proc., § 416.10, subd. (a).) Most institutions use a registered corporate agent. Sometimes the agent is the bank itself or another agent.
5. Prove service on form DE-120(P), naming the entity, the person who accepted the papers, that person’s title and the address. Orange County requires those details for notice to any entity in a probate proceeding. (Super. Ct. Orange County, Local Rules, rule 602.01.)

Save a dated copy of the Secretary of State record. Agents change, and the copy shows where the address came from if service is ever questioned.

1. RecordedDeed of trustBeneficiary: Lender A
2. Recorded laterAssignmentLender A to Lender B
3. BizfileLender BActive, with an agent for service
4. ServeThe agentProof on DE-120(P)

Banks are hard to serve because the right entity is rarely obvious

Banks come up in two ways in Heggstad work. When the petition asks the court to confirm a bank or brokerage account as a trust asset, the bank has possession of the property and must be served like a summons. (Prob. Code, § 851, subd. (a)(2).) And when you need the decedent’s statements, you subpoena them from the institution’s custodian of records, on the timing section 851.1 and the consumer-records rules allow. (Code Civ. Proc., § 1985.3; see our guide’s chapter on bank and brokerage records.) Either way, you have to pick the right company.

That is harder than it sounds. A large bank is a family of companies: a holding company at the top, a chartered bank that holds deposit accounts, a separate broker-dealer that holds brokerage accounts, and often more. They share a brand but not a legal name, and the bank’s own paperwork rarely tells you which company holds the account.

The Secretary of State’s site is again the best first step. It shows which companies in the family are active in California and who their agents are. When the right entity still isn’t obvious, we overserve: we serve every company that could plausibly hold the account. In our experience, serving the chartered bank itself, the entity whose name ends in “National Association” or “N.A.” for a national bank, is usually enough for a deposit account. It is not always enough. A brokerage account is usually held by the broker-dealer, not the bank, and a state-chartered bank won’t have “N.A.” in its name at all.

Bank holding company

Shares the brand, but usually does not hold the account

The bank (N.A.)

Checking, savings, CDs

Usually the company to serve for a deposit account

Broker-dealer (LLC)

Brokerage accounts

The company to serve for a brokerage account

When the agent route fails, California has a rule just for banks. Besides the agent for service of process and the officers who can accept service for any corporation, a bank may be served through “a cashier or assistant cashier.” (Code Civ. Proc., § 416.10, subd. (c).) That lets a process server serve the bank at a branch. In banking, “cashier” has traditionally been an officer’s title (see 12 U.S.C. § 24 (Fifth)), so have the server ask for the branch manager or another officer, and record that person’s name and title on the proof of service.

Formal service goes to the agent or officer. A courtesy copy to the bank’s estate-services or legal-processing department, with the case number and hearing date, gets the file to the people who will act on the order.

Tenants and other occupants have possession, and possession requires notice

Occupants are the other group that gets forgotten. Section 851 requires service like a summons on each person “having . . . possession of” the property. (Prob. Code, § 851, subd. (a)(2).) A tenant has possession, and so does a relative living in the house, with or without a lease.

Tenants almost never object, because whether the landlord’s interest belongs to a trust makes no difference to them. Notice still matters for a second reason: the trustee usually expects to step into the decedent’s shoes as landlord, collect the rent and enforce the lease. California gives a person who receives rental property the same remedies under the lease that the prior owner had. (Civ. Code, § 821.) But a tenant who pays rent to the prior owner before learning of the transfer is protected. (Civ. Code, § 1111.) A successor owner of a residential rental must also give the tenants its name, its manager’s name and where to pay rent within 15 days, and it may not evict for nonpayment of rent that came due before it did. (Civ. Code, § 1962, subd. (c).) Serving the tenant with the petition shows the tenant the trustee’s claim from the start. We think it is also the cleanest way to carry the lease, and the obligations under it, over to the trustee.

That matters most with commercial leases, which often run for years and include options, guaranties and notice provisions that both sides need to honor.

It is also one more good reason to hold rental property in a limited liability company. If an LLC owns the building, the LLC is the landlord before and after the owner’s death. The leases never change hands; only the ownership of the LLC does.

The petition should say whether there are liens and occupants, even when there are none

A growing number of counties will continue the first hearing unless the petition says specifically whether the property has any lienholders or occupants. A petition that says nothing on the subject doesn’t let the examiner tell whether notice is complete. San Bernardino and San Diego now require the encumbrance statement by rule.

So address both points either way. Language like this works:

Encumbrances. The Property is encumbered by a deed of trust recorded on [date] as Document No. [number] in the Official Records of [county] County, in favor of [lender]. The beneficial interest under that deed of trust was assigned to [current beneficiary] by an assignment recorded on [date] as Document No. [number]. Petitioner will serve [current beneficiary] through its agent for service of process under Probate Code section 851, subdivision (a)(2). Petitioner is not aware of any other lien or encumbrance on the Property.

Occupancy. [Name] occupies the Property as a tenant under a written lease dated [date]. Petitioner will serve [Name] under Probate Code section 851, subdivision (a)(2). No one else occupies the Property.

When the answer is no, say that instead: “No deed of trust or other lien is recorded against the Property.” “The Property is vacant.”

Run this checklist before you file

• Compare each heir’s intestate share with what the trust gives that heir. If the share and terms are the same, mail is enough. If the heir gets less, gets it with restrictions, or gets nothing, serve like a summons or get a signed waiver.
• Pull title, and list every deed of trust, assignment and other recorded lien.
• Look up each lienholder on the Secretary of State’s site, and save a dated copy of the record.
• For each account, identify the company that holds it. When in doubt, serve every candidate.
• Ask who lives at the property, and list every tenant and occupant.
• Say in the petition whether there are liens and occupants, even when the answer is none.
• Serve at least 30 days before the hearing. Allow 40 days for substituted service and for mail service outside California, because that service is complete only on the 10th day after mailing. (Code Civ. Proc., §§ 415.20, 415.40.)
• Prove mail service on DE-115 and personal service on DE-120(P).

The notice chapter of our Heggstad practice guide goes further, with a deadline calculator and sample proofs of service. For a property already headed to a foreclosure sale, see Emergency TROs to Stop Foreclosure in Heggstad Cases.

This article is general information, not legal advice.