California Form DE-121, the Notice of Petition to Administer Estate, tells heirs, beneficiaries, creditors, and other interested parties that someone has asked the probate court to appoint a personal representative for a deceased person’s estate. To complete it, you fill in the case caption, the decedent’s names and aliases, the petitioner, the proposed personal representative, whether authority under the Independent Administration of Estates Act is requested, and the hearing date, department, and courthouse address. You then mail it to interested parties and publish it in a qualifying newspaper before the court will hold the hearing.
When You Need to File DE-121
Any time someone files a Petition for Probate (Form DE-111) to open administration of a deceased person’s estate, they must also prepare and distribute Form DE-121. This applies whether the decedent left a valid will or died without one.1California Legislative Information. California Probate Code 8000 – Commencement of Proceedings
The court will not hold the hearing on the petition until the petitioner proves notice was properly mailed and published. Skip or botch this step and the hearing gets continued, which can push the whole case back weeks or months.
Where to Get the Current Form
Download DE-121 from the California Courts website, which hosts current Judicial Council forms.2California Courts. Notice of Petition to Administer Estate (DE-121) Most county superior courts also keep paper copies at the clerk’s office or self-help center. Use the current version; courts can reject outdated forms.
Filling Out the Form
The form runs two pages. Page one is the notice itself, which gets mailed and published. Page two is the proof of service, which you file with the court after mailing is complete.
Header and Case Information
At the top left, enter the petitioner’s name (or the attorney’s, if represented), mailing address, and phone number. In the header, enter the name of the superior court and the county where the petition was filed. The case number goes in the upper right. The clerk assigns that number when you file the petition, so file the petition first or file both together.
The Notice Body
Item 1 addresses the notice “to all heirs, beneficiaries, creditors, contingent creditors, and persons who may otherwise be interested in the will or estate.” Fill in every name the decedent was known by: legal name plus aliases, maiden names, and commonly used variations. Missing an alternate name can mean an interested party never realizes the notice applies to them.3Judicial Council of California. Notice of Petition to Administer Estate (Form DE-121)
Item 2 identifies who filed the petition. Item 3 states who is being proposed as personal representative. These are sometimes the same person and sometimes not. Item 3 also has checkboxes for the type of authority being requested: letters testamentary (for executors named in a will) or letters of administration (when there is no will or no named executor).
Independent Administration Authority
Item 4 is where many petitioners trip up. It asks whether the petitioner is requesting authority under the Independent Administration of Estates Act. If checked, a second choice appears: full authority or limited authority. Full authority lets the personal representative handle most estate business, including selling property, paying debts, and distributing assets, without filing a separate court petition for each action. Limited authority restricts certain real estate transactions, requiring court approval before selling, exchanging, or granting an option on real property.3Judicial Council of California. Notice of Petition to Administer Estate (Form DE-121)
Check the IAEA box but pick the wrong level of authority, or forget to check it when the petition requests it, and the notice will not match the petition. That mismatch can force you to redo the notice and re-serve everyone.
Hearing Details
The form has spaces for the hearing date, time, department number, and the court’s street address. Get these from the clerk when you file the petition or from the court’s online case portal. Double-check the department number. Larger courthouses have dozens of departments, and listing the wrong one sends people to the wrong room.
Mailing Notice to Interested Parties
Before the court will proceed, mail a copy of Form DE-121 to every person with a potential stake in the estate. Probate Code section 8110 requires notice at least 15 days before the hearing to each heir of the decedent (as far as known or reasonably ascertainable), and to each devisee, executor, and alternate executor named in any will offered for probate.4California Legislative Information. California Probate Code 8110 – Service of Notice “Reasonably ascertainable” means a genuine effort: checking the decedent’s address book, phone records, and personal papers, not just mailing to people whose addresses you happen to have.
If the will includes a gift to charity, or if assets are held in a charitable trust, serve notice on the California Attorney General’s office as well.5State of California – Department of Justice – Office of the Attorney General. Charities The same applies when property may pass to an unnamed charitable beneficiary or could escheat to the state. If a foreign citizen may inherit and the decedent died without a will (or the will does not name an executor), notice must also go to the relevant foreign consulate.6California Legislative Information. California Probate Code 8113
Someone other than the petitioner must handle the mailing. The person who mails the notices must be at least 18 and cannot be a party to the case. After mailing, that person completes the proof of service on page two of Form DE-121, listing the date of mailing and the name and address of each person served. The completed proof of service gets filed with the court clerk before the hearing.
Publishing Notice in a Newspaper
Mailing alone is not enough. The notice must also be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the city where the decedent lived at the time of death. If the decedent did not live in a city, or if there is no qualifying newspaper in that city, publication goes in a newspaper of general circulation in the county, circulated in the area where the decedent lived. When the court has jurisdiction because property is located in the county rather than because the decedent lived there, the newspaper must circulate in the area where the property sits.7Justia. California Probate Code 8120-8125 – Publication
The paper must be an adjudicated newspaper of general circulation under Government Code section 6000. Most probate courts keep a list of approved newspapers; ask the clerk or check the court’s website. Pick a paper that has not been adjudicated and the publication will not count.
The notice must appear three times, with at least five days between the first and last publication dates, not counting the publication dates themselves. The first publication must run at least 15 days before the hearing.8California Legislative Information. California Probate Code 8121 Work backward from the hearing date to make sure the newspaper can fit all three publications into the timeline. Many legal newspapers publish weekly, so contact them promptly after filing the petition.
Publication costs vary by newspaper and county. Expect somewhere in the range of a few hundred dollars, depending on the paper’s rates and the length of the notice. After the final publication, the newspaper provides an affidavit of publication, a sworn statement confirming the dates the notice appeared. File this affidavit with the court before the hearing. Without it, the judge will not proceed.
Correcting the Petition or the Notice
If you need to change the petition after notice has already gone out, for example to submit an additional will or codicil not referenced in the original petition, you must file an amended petition and publish and serve a new notice from scratch.9Judicial Branch of California. Rule 7.54 – Publication of Notice of Petition to Administer Estate Minor clerical corrections to the form itself, like fixing a typo in an address, are generally handled by filing an amended notice with the clerk, but check with your court’s probate department for local practice.
What to File Before the Hearing
Two documents need to be on file before the judge will hear the petition: the proof of service on page two of DE-121, showing that copies were mailed to every interested party at least 15 days out, and the newspaper’s affidavit of publication, showing three timely runs in a qualifying paper. Both go to the court clerk. If either is missing or defective, the hearing will be continued and the notice process may have to be repeated.