Where should a Heggstad Petition be filed? —Venue in Probate Code 850 petitions.
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Before a court can consider a Heggstad Petition it must determine whether “venue” is proper in the court’s county.
A Heggstad petition normally needs to be filed in the county where the successor trustee lives. If a trustee lives in Orange County, the Heggstad petition must be filed in Orange County even if the property is in Los Angeles.
Venue in Heggstad petitions, like other trust petitions, is governed by Probate Code 17005. Pursuant to that section, a trust petition should generally be filed in the county where the principal place of administration of the trust is located. The principal place of administration is the usual place where the trustee carries on the trust’s day-to-day administration, which for a family trustee is usually home (Probate Code 17002).
If the co-trustees of a trust live in different counties, they can agree between themselves as to which county has venue. If they cannot agree, then a Heggstad petition can be filed in any of the counties where one of the co-trustees lives.
Special considerations apply when a successor trustee lives out of state. In this situation, a Heggstad petition can generally be filed in the county where the property is located, or, in the case of financial accounts, where the decedent lived. (See California Law Revision Commission Comments to Probate Code 17005, “Thus, for example, when the principal place of administration of a trust is in another state, but jurisdiction is proper in California, the general rules governing venue apply. See, e.g., Code Civ. Proc. §§ 392 (real property), 395 (county of defendant’s residence).”)
One trustee in California
Prob. Code, §§ 17002, 17005
- File where the trustee administers the trust
- For a family trustee, usually the county where she lives
Co-trustees in different counties
Principal place of administration
- They may agree on one of their counties
- Otherwise, any county where one of them administers the trust
Trustee outside California
Code Civ. Proc., §§ 392, 395
- Real property: the county where it is located
- Accounts: often the county where the decedent lived
When trustees file Heggstad petitions in the wrong county, courts will refuse to consider them and dismiss or transfer the action, costing the estate time and money.
The venue finder in our Heggstad petition practice guide applies these rules to a specific set of facts, and the same chapter shows how to plead venue in the petition.
Schedule an appointment today for a free consultation. The Law Office of Ravi Patel handles Heggstad petitions with outcome-based pricing. Save time, save money, and claim the inheritance to which you are entitled.
Venue is only one piece of a successful filing. For costs, timelines, and required documents, see our complete Heggstad petition overview. Related: describing trust property and how long a Heggstad petition takes.