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Unpublished policy from the Fresno County Probate Court Investigator’s Office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 …

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 …

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 …

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, …

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, …

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 …

5-1/2 Month Delay to Get Standard Hearing Date in Fresno Probate Court

We filed a petition to distribute an estate in the Fresno Probate court on September 26, 2022. It’s a simple case. There is only one asset, being a parcel of land. There is only one heir. There is no accounting, because the sole heir waived the accounting. The probate clerk set the matter for hearing …