The probate clerk’s office for Fresno County Superior Court is broken. We submitted an Ex Parte Petition for Final Discharge and Order for filing on February 11, 2026. This is a standard Judicial Council form. There were two beneficiaries. Both signed a receipt of distributee, and the receipts were attached to the petition. We told …
Author Archives: admin
190 days to get a hearing for probate distribution in Fresno Superior Court – getting worse
Part of a continuing update regarding the time needed to obtain a hearing in the Fresno Probate Court. We just filed a petition for distribution from a decedent’s estate, all cash, two heirs. Filed on April 1, 2025, set for hearing October 8, 2025 (190 days). Here is a history of the time to get …
Unpublished policy from the Fresno County Probate Court Investigator’s Office
We recently filed a petition for guardianship of a minor. The grandmother requested guardianship of the person of her grandson. The minor’s father had died, and the 8-year-old minor was living with his mother in Fresno. Our client had substantial contact with the minor before his father died, but was cut off from all contact …
Continue reading “Unpublished policy from the Fresno County Probate Court Investigator’s Office”
169 days to get a hearing for probate distribution in Fresno Superior Court
Part of a continuing update regarding the time needed to obtain a hearing in the Fresno Probate Court. We just filed a petition for distribution from a decedent’s estate, all cash, three heirs. Filed on January 21, 2025, set for hearing July 9, 2025 (169 days). What was it like in the past? We filed …
Continue reading “169 days to get a hearing for probate distribution in Fresno Superior Court”
More than five months to get a hearing in Fresno probate court
We filed a petition to distribute an estate on January 8, 2025. The assets are all cash, there are no creditors, and the estate will be divided equally between two siblings. The court assigned the matter for hearing on June 18, 2025. That’s a long time to wait — 161 days, by my count.
U.S. Imports Millions of Tons of Used Cooking Oil to Make Biodiesel Fuels
California is the largest consumer of alternative diesel fuels in the United States. A recent study published by the University of California Giannini Foundation of Agricultural Economics discusses U.S. imports of used cooking oil. The authors explain as follows: “Clean fuel programs like California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard have driven a boom in the consumption …
Continue reading “U.S. Imports Millions of Tons of Used Cooking Oil to Make Biodiesel Fuels”
Fresno Probate Court – The New Normal
We recently filed a Petition to Determine Succession to Real Property in Madera County and one in Fresno County. The Madera case was submitted for filing on October 2, 2024. The assigned hearing date for the Madera case is November 18, 2024. It takes 47 days to get a probate hearing in Madera. On the …
It takes four months to get a real estate sale approved in Fresno Probate Court
On August 14, 2024, my office filed a petition to approve the sale of a house in a probate estate. The sale cannot proceed until we get court approval. Which will be a long time coming, because the assigned hearing date is December 11, 2024. That’s a four-month delay. Most buyers won’t wait that long, …
Continue reading “It takes four months to get a real estate sale approved in Fresno Probate Court”
Fresno probate court experiences further delays
The Fresno probate court was formerly very prompt. You could submit a petition and receive a hearing date within six to eight weeks. Everything moved right along. Not now. On February 7, 2023, we filed a petition to distribute an estate to two heirs. The heirs waived the accounting, and the estate is all cash, …
Continue reading “Fresno probate court experiences further delays”
Choppy Waters for California Almond Producers
The University of California at Davis publishes an excellent agriculture newsletter. In the Sept/Oct 2022 issue, Prof. Colin A. Carter and Sandro Steinbach offer the following insights into the California almond industry (big business here in the Central Valley): “California almond tree acreage has expanded by roughly three-fold since 2000. As a result, the industry …
Continue reading “Choppy Waters for California Almond Producers”