Here is a secret: In California there are inexpensive probate options available, and one of the best options is filing probate without an attorney! This secret is not usually shared by attorneys as many of them will try to make potential clients fearful of filing probate without a lawyer. In fact, most estate executors can complete the probate process without legal representation if they have proper help. You may be surprised to learn that the California probate process requires little or no court appearances and matters set for hearing are, in most cases, pre-approved and routine. Here’s what you need to know so you can take advantage of this inexpensive probate option and save the estate thousands of dollars in the process!

A People’s Choice is a non-attorney legal document assistant. For over 40 years we have offered inexpensive probate options, helping thousands of people successfully complete California probate.

As your probate coordinator, we not only prepare all the required paperwork, we also manage the case until the personal representative receives a final discharge. Using our inexpensive probate services to probate your loved one’s estate in California allows you to complete probate for a fraction of the cost of what an attorney would charge you.  Our inexpensive probate options will save you thousands of dollars as compared to the statutory fees charged by probate attorneys! Read on to learn more.

What our Clients Say...
“VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!! My experience with A People’s Choice was EXCELLENT!! I retained their services to help me with the probate process after unexpectedly losing my Mom. I received quotes from 2 lawyers locally and they were 3 to 4 times the price. All communications from the staff were punctual and very thoroughly explained. They were there to support me the entire time. Any and all questions I had were explained as needed with very quick responses. There were NO HIDDEN FEES or charges. They have a very easy to use portal to access all of the documents. I can’t say enough good things about the work that they did for me!!! Thank you to all the staff. You are an amazing team and I appreciate everything you did to help my family and I when we needed it most!!”
Bryan A.
“The entire team at A People’s Choice were very supportive in our probate case. Losing a parent is extremely difficult, and so is the subsequent paperwork.  A People’s Choice made it easier and charged a very fair price, saving us thousands in attorney fees. What I liked a lot was the transparency and digital tools used. Documents were managed via email and on a platform. Payment for court items was easy. I appreciate that they use modern methods in an old school industry and most things could be done remotely. All in all, I can definitely recommend A People’s Choice if your case is straightforward. Thank you to Sandy and team for helpful us get here! What a huge relief! I’m glad we had your support along the way. Made it way less stressful and way more manageable.”
Jenn C.
“I cannot say enough about the time and money this company saved me. With their help I finished Probate in Tulare Co on my brother estate in little over 12 months. I am a letter carrier with no legal training, yet , I completed the entire process mainly because A People’s Choice walked me thru each step. They filed most papers electronically which resulted in me needing only three court appearances (and saved me from many trips to Visalia.) Keep in mind, all probates are different but if you have limited resources I recommend this company. The Probate Judge complimented me on the good work I received from A People’s Choice, saying this was not always to case with other legal help offices.”
Jack M.
“I used A People’s Choice to prepare and file documents to probate my sister’s estate.  I began the probate process in pro per and hired them after discovering the difficulty in processing the probate by myself.  Very knowledgeable with good technology to keep me informed.  Their fees were significantly less than what I would have had to pay for an attorney, yet their services were excellent. I can’s see where an attorney would have been any better (or as good). Highly recommend this service.”
Ron C.
“Can’t say enough about the level of service and professionalism I received working with A People’s Choice. Emails were always responded to quickly and thoughtfully. They really care about the process and helping you get the best result with no up-selling. Of course, they can’t provide legal advice, but I was referred to an attorney when I needed some questions answered who was very reasonable and easy to get a hold of as well. The process played out according to plan, and I ended up saving a lot of money by going with A People’s Choice over an attorney.”
M. Rice
“I am writing to give A People’s Choice my utmost recommendation. Living in New England, I found them on the web. After speaking with a staff member on the phone I had the confidence to give them my business. A People’s Choice handled my probate case with great professionalism and knowledge. My case turned out to be more complicated than originally believed, and the staff walked me through each step. They always responded promptly to my email questions. In the end, their service was exactly what I hoped for; they saved me thousands of dollars and allowed me to do it from across the country. They were truly a pleasure to work with.”
K. Levenson
“A People Choice provided excellent support with the appropriate legal documents and filing process in a spousal property petition after my husband passed. Lawyers wanted to charge me a fortune. However, once I spoke with someone at A People’s Choice, they took on my case and guided me through every step. A People’s Choice has years of experience, which gave me a sense of trust and confidence. I always got immediate feedback from every email request. If you need probate help, I would highly recommend A People’s Choice.”
Sylvia A
“I had a great experience with my California probate case using A People’s Choice! The people that assisted me were so helpful.  I certainly could not have done this probate by myself.  The best part was that I was able to save over $10,000 in lawyer fees!  All my emails were always returned so quickly. Needless to say, I am a very satisfied customer.  I would highly recommend A People’s Choice to all my friends and family!”
Joi C
“When my mother-in-law passed away last year, we didn’t know what to do. We contacted A People’s Choice and from day one they were very helpful. They held our hand every step of the way, and if I had a question any time of the day or night someone got back to me within a few hours. I highly recommend A People’s Choice if you don’t know what to do and don’t want to pay the high price of a lawyer, especially if you don’t have much money.”
Mikki C
“A People’s Choice helped us throughout our entire year-long probate making the process very easy and manageable while at the same time saving us thousands of dollars in lawyer’s fees. Not only were they extremely friendly and fast to respond to our questions but they made the process simple enough that we hardly ever had to contact the courthouse directly and we even had a hearing done without an appearance. Would highly recommend A People’s Choice to anyone!”
A. Vuckovich
“I must say that A People’s Choice is a very responsible and effective company. The staff there is very nice and replied to all my questions by email quickly. With their help, I accomplished the probate in 8 months successfully and saved at least $10,000.00 in attorney fees, so I strongly recommend everybody to contract with A People’s Choice and let them help you with your legal documents. You will be very satisfied with their work as I did!!!!”
C. Chiu
“Thanks to A People’s Choice, I was able to get through a probate matter very smoothly. I had not one issue with the Courts. They guided me through the whole probate until the very end. I live up north, but that didn’t matter, A People’s Choice did an excellent job keeping me informed with everything that I needed to do. I saved THOUSANDS of dollars by going with A People’s Choice. You can’t go wrong, no matter what your needs are. I saved a lot of money by not having to pay out a percentage to an attorney. Many thanks to the staff at A People’s Choice for the great help they give to everyone in their times of need like I was! Thank You.”
R. Leonard
“When my father passed away without a will, we needed help handling the transfer of his assets. Since there weren’t significant assets, I didn’t want to spend too much on the legal paperwork. A People’s Choice offered just the right service we needed. In particular, the staff was very responsive to our document filing needs, helping to turn around corrections almost immediately. They helped to ease a tough situation.”
Michael C.
“I used A People’s Choice for help with a probate matter. My grandfather died Christmas of 2016. He had a living trust, but no one was able to find it. We went to A People’s Choice, and we were able to do a probate affidavit to get what was left of my grandfather’s estate. Took two days for the documents to be prepared and the bank accepted them without any questions. Sandy was the one who assisted us, and we really appreciate the help that was provided. A+ service.”
David R.
“A People’s Choice worked on my probate case for over 1 year. Their knowledge, dedication, and commitment to clients are exceptional, preparing the required legal documents, and all the court filings. They used the e-filing system which really expedited the process. They always answered my emails in a very timely manner and were professional. The probate process is long and sometimes seems overwhelming. It’s also very expensive, A People’s Choice saved me thousands of dollars as compared to an attorney. I would highly recommend A People’s Choice for your probate needs. It’s cost effective, and they handle the entire process from beginning to end!”
C.K..
“Probate itself is a frustrating and expensive process. A People’s Choice was professional and courteous throughout a long probate process. Everyone I came in contact with at A People’s Choice was exceptionally helpful, patient, and professional. For those entering into the probate process, I must warn you that it is difficult to understand. The staff at A People’s Choice makes it as tolerable you could wish for.  The people who work there were kind, efficient, and understanding.  If you email your questions, they’ll get back to you and won’t make you feel like you are ignorant if you are unclear about any part of the process.”
Marcel B
“I needed help understanding and filling out legal documents, but I didn’t have enough money to pay for an attorney. After searching the internet, I found A People’s Choice. I was relieved to know that I would get the exact service that I needed at an affordable price. The staff was very professional and helpful with my legal documents. They worked around my schedule and responded to my emails in a timely manner. They took care of all the paperwork and filing and kept me posted. I would highly recommend A People’s Choice for your legal documents as you will get outstanding service at an affordable price.
Sharon B.
“After not having my call returned from a probate lawyer, I looked into doing a Spousal Property Petition myself.  A People’s Choice assisted me through the whole probate process and everything went smoothly.  When I appeared in court, I didn’t have to say a word. The judge just said, “granted.”  Using A People’s Choice I saved thousands of dollars, and I’m so glad that probate attorney didn’t return my call.  I highly recommend A People’s Choice.”
Donna G.
“A People’s Choice walked me through the entire probate process. This company is very professional and helpful and made a scary probate pretty much stress free. I would send an email with a question I had thought of over the weekend with the expectation I would get an answer on Monday but lo and behold, I often got an answer within minutes! Thank you to the staff for your guidance and patience to talk me through such a difficult time. You made the process very smooth! Probably saved us about $10,000! We are very pleased and will be referring our friends/family to A People’s Choice!”
L. Garrett.
“I had hoped to have my probate process taken care of by myself to save money. After the fourth attempt to file at the Clerk’s office, I left in tears and faced the reality of hiring an attorney. I look on the internet to find one and came across A People’s Choice. They offered a price that was way below what attorneys charge! They guided me through every step of the process and wrote up all the paperwork so that all I had to do was sign. It was really an amazing experience. They are a pleasure to work with.”
D. Chase.
“Thank you so much for all your help through this California probate process.  By using your company instead of a California probate lawyer, we were able to cut our expenses dramatically.  Thank you for answering my many questions and for giving me a heads up on documents that could be prepared in advance in order to save time and money.  There was always someone available to help! Thank you again.”
Craig K.

Learn About Calfiornia’s Inexpensive Probate Options!

  • or call 1-800-747-2780

Important Money Saving Tip!

Take advantage of California’s inexpensive probate options! For a full probate, probate attorneys charge statutory fees based on the gross value of the estate, starting at 4%, on a tiered scale. For example, attorneys fees for a $1,000,000 estate would be $23,000! By using the flat fee services of an experienced probate legal document assistant, the estate can save thousands of dollars.

Click here to see how much you can save!

Inexpensive Probate Options in California

Hiring an attorney to probate your loved one’s estate in California can be very expensive. For one thing, probate attorney fees are set by California law and are based on a percentage of the gross value of the decedent’s estate. Unfortunately, when calculating gross value, you don’t deduce the decedent’s debts (mortgage or business/personal loans). Here’s an example. If the estate consists of a house, car and furniture with a total sales value of $250,000, expect to pay the attorney at least $8,000 in attorney fees. Keep in mind, the attorney can also receive more fees for “extraordinary services” such as when real property sells during the probate process. Essentially, what you can pay an attorney sometimes has no direct relationship to the amount of work the attorney puts into probating the estate.

Some of the most popular inexpensive probate options in California include the following:

Hire an Inexpensive Probate Legal Document Assistant

Easily, the most stress-free inexpensive probate option in California is to hire an experienced probate legal document preparer. Keep in mind, however, that not all non-attorney probate services are the same. Therefore, it’s important to make sure you hire one with substantial experience and reputation. Although legal document preparers are trained on how to complete judicial and local court forms, not all legal document assistants are competent and well-versed with the probate forms and process. In fact, probate is such a specialized field that even attorneys unfamiliar with probate often hire our company to help them with the paperwork and process for their clients. In this regard,

Having been in business since 1980, A People’s Choice has prepared thousands of California probates and, as a result, our staff is very experienced with these matters. Our inexpensive probate services include document preparation, court filing assistant and complete case management.We aren’t like most non-attorney services out there. however, because our services extend beyond just form preparation. We will keep you on track with every step along the way and be there to help in any way we can. Our legal document preparation services cost substantially less than what an attorney would charge which means you will see substantial cost savings with our service in comparison to working with an attorney and paying statutory fees.

Inexpensive Simplified Probate Alternatives

There are also inexpensive probate options for smaller estates. These inexpensive options will only work, however, if the gross value of the estate is small, specifically under $166,250. California has several simplified probate procedures that allow the estate’s executor to settle a decedent’s estate without having to go through the more complex, lengthy probate process. Some of these inexpensive probate options are for estates without real property. There are other options for small estates with real property. For example, beneficiaries can submit a simple affidavit for personal property to handle the distribution of bank accounts, small stock accounts, and other small valued assets. One of the best inexpensive probate options for real property under $55,425 is using a small estate court affidavit. Lastly, for estates with real property under $166,250, there is a inexpensive probate procedure that requires one simple hearing to distribute the assets to the beneficiaries.

Spousal Property Petition

In addition to this simplified probate procedure, there are other inexpensive probate options that allow a spouse to settle the spousal interest of a deceased marriage partner through a spousal property petition. A spouse can typically complete a spousal proceeding within a few months. A probate referee is not required and there is no maximum or minimum value of the estate to use this process.

Heggstad Petition

A Heggstad petition is commonly used when a decedent had a trust but, for whatever reason, failed to title high-value real estate or other assets in the name of the Trust. Filing a Heggstad petition allows a successor trustee to ask the court for permission to transfer the decedent’s assets into a trust after the decedent’s death. Transferring the decedent’s assets into his pre-existing trust will allow the successor trustee to distribute the asset as part of the trust and, as a result, avoid probate.

Contact A People’s Choice to learn more about inexpensive probate options open to you in California. A People’s Choice has been in business since 1980, and our staff are experienced, professional and well-versed with the California probate procedures. Call us today at 800-747-2780. Please also visit our exciting new website ProbatebyME.com which is dedicated to probate and estate administration matters in California.

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A People’s Choice can save you hundreds of dollars by preparing your legal documents instead of an expensive attorney!

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