Serving California statewide
A Bay Legal, P.C. practice
Serving California statewide
California probate & trust disputes
You didn’t expect to be fighting your own family over what a parent or spouse left behind. Maybe a sibling became trustee and stopped returning calls. Maybe a will surfaced that doesn’t look right. Maybe the clock is already running on a deadline no one told you about — California gives beneficiaries just 120 days to contest a trust once they’re notified, and most people learn that only after weeks have already passed.
Bay Legal, P.C. helps California beneficiaries, trustees, heirs, and executors get a straight answer about where they stand — and a clear plan for what to do next.
How this goes
Understand
Where you actually stand
Plan
Options and cost, in writing
Act
With updates at each decision
120-day window
The problem
Three situations we hear most often, in the words people use when they call.
Trust and estate disputes rarely stay simple. What starts as “my sibling isn’t answering my calls about mom’s trust” becomes a tangle of deadlines, statutory notice requirements, and a trustee who may or may not be doing their job.
You’re not just managing paperwork — you’re trying to protect what your family member actually intended, often while still grieving, and often while everyone around you has a different story about what’s fair. The frustrating part isn’t just the conflict. It’s not knowing whether what’s happening to you is normal, is a serious problem, or is something you’ve already lost the legal window to act on.
01
“My sister is the trustee and she stopped answering me six months ago. I don’t know what’s left.”
02
“A new will appeared three weeks before he died. His caregiver is now the beneficiary.”
03
“I was named executor. There’s a house, a rental, and two siblings who disagree about all of it.”
How Bay Legal helps
Bay Legal, P.C. is a California law firm with offices in Palo Alto and Los Angeles, serving clients statewide. We built a dedicated probate and trust litigation practice because these disputes deserve focused attention — and because, unlike a pure litigation boutique, we also have real estate, business, and healthcare attorneys in-house for the property and business assets that are often at the center of the fight. A contested trust holding a family home, a small business, or a medical practice doesn’t get handed off to a stranger here.
Step one
You walk us through what’s happening. We tell you plainly where you stand — including if the honest answer is that you don’t need us.
Step two
You get a clear explanation of your options, what each one costs, and what we’d actually do, before you commit to anything.
Step three
If you move forward, you hear from us at each decision point — not just when there’s a bill.
What we handle
Each entry opens a full pillar guide with its cluster pages, statutes and FAQs.
California Probate Process
What probate is, how long it takes, what it costs, and how to open, run, and close a California probate estate.
Trust Administration
A successor trustee’s duties — notice, accounting, distribution — under California law.
Trust Litigation & Contesting a Trust
Removing a trustee, proving undue influence, compelling an accounting, and recovering assets a trustee mismanaged or took.
Will Contests & Estate Litigation
Challenging a will’s validity, intestate succession when there’s no will, and disputes over who actually inherits.
Elder Financial Abuse
Recovering assets taken from an elderly or dependent adult, with the enhanced remedies California law provides.
Conservatorship & Guardianship
Establishing, contesting, or defending against a conservatorship or guardianship in California.
Probate & Trust Litigation Process
What litigation actually costs, how mediation works, and what to expect if a dispute goes to trial.
Prefer to work out the numbers first?
The stakes
The 120-day window to contest a trust runs whether or not you’ve had time to think. Assets can be sold, spent, or moved while a dispute sits unresolved. Waiting to understand your options is often the single costliest decision in a trust or estate dispute — not because litigation is always the answer, but because not knowing your options is never the answer.
Why Bay Legal
Estate Planning and Probate Attorney · CA Bar No. 355415
Handles California probate and trust administration, and — alongside Jayson — contested trust and probate litigation including trustee removal and breach of fiduciary duty.
Managing Attorney · CA Bar No. 332479
Oversees the probate and trust litigation practice and personally handles matters where real property sits at the centre of the dispute.
Where a dispute actually lands
A contested trust is rarely only about the trust document. It is about the asset inside it — and each of these is a different body of law.
The asset
A family home or rental property
Real estate attorneys, in-house
The asset
A family business or partnership stake
Business attorneys, in-house
The asset
A medical or dental practice
Healthcare attorneys, in-house
The asset
A property mid-construction
Construction attorneys, in-house
Client experience
4.8
average across 371+ Google reviews, firm-wide
Source: Bay Legal, P.C. Google Business Profile. Last verified April 2026.
“Sivendra Ganesh Maraj is an outstanding lawyer. I consulted with him on an inheritance/probate matter. He was well-prepared and knowledgeable and quickly identified the key issues. He provided insightful legal advice that was also sensitive to the business and financial context.”
“I worked with attorney Sivendra Maraj, who was very thorough. Sivendra answered all my questions and provided valuable legal advice. Sivendra has a passion for probate law.”
“Jayson Elliott did an excellent job explaining the options with our case. We really appreciate Jayson and the staff at Bay Legal.”
These reviews reflect individual clients’ experiences. Results depend on the facts and law of each individual case and do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome in your matter.
Answer first
Each figure below carries its statute and the date an attorney last verified it. Nothing here is legal advice.
Generally 120 days from the date a trustee sends you the statutory notice required under Probate Code §16061.7, or 60 days from actually receiving a copy of the trust, whichever is later.
Cal. Prob. Code §16061.7
Law last verified Aug 2026 · pending attorney re-verification
$208,850 in personal property for deaths on or after April 1, 2025, rising to $239,700 for deaths on or after April 1, 2026, under AB 2016. Below this threshold, a simplified affidavit process can skip formal probate entirely.
Cal. Prob. Code §13100 · AB 2016
Law last verified Aug 2026 · pending attorney re-verification
Attorney and executor fees follow a statutory schedule — 4% of the first $100,000, 3% of the next $100,000, 2% of the next $800,000, and lower percentages above that. On a $1,000,000 estate, that’s roughly $23,000 each for the attorney and the executor.
Cal. Prob. Code §10810
Law last verified Aug 2026 · pending attorney re-verification
Frequently asked
Not always — small estates under the statutory threshold can often be handled with a simplified affidavit. Larger or contested estates generally benefit from an attorney, particularly once deadlines and statutory fee calculations are involved.
Probate is a court-supervised process for assets that pass through a will or intestate succession. Trust administration is a private process a trustee carries out under the terms of a trust, without ongoing court supervision unless a dispute arises.
No — Bay Legal’s consultations are paid Case Strategy Sessions. Fee shown before you book.
No. Bay Legal is a California firm with attorneys across real estate, business, healthcare, and construction law in addition to probate and trust litigation — which means the property and business assets that often sit at the center of a trust or probate dispute are handled in-house, not outsourced.
Get started
A paid session. Submitting the form does not create an attorney-client relationship.
Intake: intake@baylegal.com · Fax (650) 963-0041