Where should a Heggstad Petition be filed? —Venue in Probate Code 850 petitions.

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 typically the residence or usual place of business of the trustee. (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 Law Review 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).”)

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. 

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