Hi, I'm Elizabeth Talbot , from the Talbot Law group in Walnut Creek, California. Today I am going to talk about special administrations in a California probate estate and why you might need a special administration. A special administration is kind of like an emergency letters of administration for an estate. So, generally when you go to submit your petition for probate, the hearing will be set in maybe 60 days from when you submit your petition. The potential administrator of the estate has to wait until that hearing comes and the judge has granted them letters of administration in order to do anything in the estate.
In some situations, often when there is a property that needs to be managed or bills that need to be paid. Administrators or executors in an estate will want to apply for a special administration. That is heard on an exparte basis which means that the attorney submits the paperwork to the court asking for the judge to look at it when they have time (Which is hopefully soon) and sign off and give the administrator temporary or interim access to the estates assets. So with a special administrator you can do things like marshal the assets, open an estate bank account, transfer the descendants funds into the bank account right away. You can start the sale of real property, sign a listing agreement, and get the house prepared for sale if there is a property. Generally move forward with paying bills and getting everything arranged in order to go through the probate process once the official letters of administration are granted. And just to clarify, it’s letters or special administration that you would get in the interim and the administrators have less powers with those letters of administration, but they do have some power in order to get started. This can be essential if a home is going to go under foreclosure, there's a potential hazmat situation with the home because it hasn't been managed properly, or there's things that really need to be taken care of right away.

One thing we keep in mind about special administrations is that some counties are more liberal with them, where the judges are more willing to grant them and some counties (for example Alameda County) will almost never grant them. They really want you to have excellent reasons for wanting to manage the estate. You better all your ducks in a row if you're going to apply for special administration in Alameda County. In Contra Costa County, they tend to be a little bit more flexible and willing to grant special administrations if you can show them why it is important.

So that’s just a little bit about the role of a special administration within a probate estate in California. Each county is unique and each has its own situation. And it's important to choose an attorney to assist you who has familiarity with judges in that county and how they handle special administration within a California probate.

Thanks so much!