California Successor Trustee Checklist: The First 30, 60 and 90 Days

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How This Is Calculated

Each due date is the date of death plus the period the statute or official instruction gives. The date of death is not counted and the last day is (Code of Civil Procedure §12). The tool does not move a date that lands on a weekend or holiday, so plan to act before it. The contest period is the exception: it runs from the date you mailed the notification, and if its last day is a weekend or court holiday it runs to the next court day (Code of Civil Procedure §12a), so wait until it has fully run. Steps without a fixed deadline are placed in the period when trustees usually handle them.

• Original will to the superior court clerk within 30 days after learning of the death, with a copy mailed to the named executor. The checklist counts from the date of death. (Probate Code §8200)
• Trust notification to every beneficiary and heir within 60 days after the trust becomes irrevocable. The checklist counts from the date of death. If the person who died was the only trustee, the 60 days start when the successor trustee begins serving, and for a person the trustee learns of later, 60 days after learning of that person (Probate Code §16061.7). A person served then has 120 days to contest the trust, or 60 days after receiving the trust terms if later (Probate Code §16061.8).
• Notice of death to the Director of Health Care Services within 90 days if the decedent received or may have received Medi-Cal, or was the surviving spouse of a Medi-Cal recipient, after which the director has four months to file a claim (Probate Code §215; Probate Code §19202). For deaths on or after January 1, 2017, recovery reaches only the probate estate, though the notice is still required (Welfare and Institutions Code §14009.5).
• Change in Ownership Statement, Death of Real Property Owner (BOE-502-D) within 150 days after the date of death, filed with each county assessor (Revenue and Taxation Code §480; BOE Publication 800-9).
• Affidavit of death recorded for real property, with a certified copy of the death certificate attached. No deadline. (Probate Code §210)
• Certification of trust in place of a full copy of the trust (Probate Code §18100.5).
• New employer identification number for the trust, online or with Form SS-4 (IRS: Get an EIN; Form SS-4).
• Optional trust claims procedure: a proposed notice to creditors filed with the court, then published and served. Claims are due by the later of four months after first publication or 60 days after actual notice (Probate Code §19003; Probate Code §19100).
• Final Form 1040 and Form 540 due April 15 of the year after the death for a calendar year taxpayer, plus any earlier year's return the decedent had not filed (IRS Publication 559).
• Trust income tax returns: Form 1041 if gross income is $600 or more, due April 15 for a calendar year (Instructions for Form 1041); Form 541 if the trustee or a beneficiary is a California resident or the trust has California source income, and gross income is over $10,000 or net income is over $100, on the individual due dates (FTB: Estates and trusts).
• Form 706, only if needed: the same day of the ninth month after death, or the last day of that month if it has no such day (Treas. Reg. §20.6075-1). The federal basic exclusion is $15,000,000 for deaths in 2026 (IRS).
• Accountings at least once a year, at the end of the trust and on a change of trustee, unless waived (Probate Code §16062; Probate Code §16064).

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