Alpine County, CA Probate Information

Before filing anything with the Alpine County clerk, know exactly what is in the estate. The right path — small-estate affidavit, Petition to Determine Succession to Real Property, Spousal Property Petition, or full probate — depends entirely on the value and type of the assets. Alpine's probate calendar runs once a week, and the court skips scheduling during its quarterly jury-trial weeks, so a petition filed on the wrong path costs real time here.

Identify every bank account, retirement plan, insurance policy, and parcel of real property — including cabins and vacation property, which are common in Alpine County estates — and every debt, before choosing the path. Sunset's asset-discovery work, searching more than 2,300 financial institutions, exists for this step.

The Superior Court of California, County of Alpine serves the entire county from one courthouse in Markleeville, including Bear Valley, Kirkwood, Woodfords, and Markleeville itself. Probate is filed here when the decedent was domiciled in Alpine County at death (Cal. Prob. Code § 7051), or owned Alpine County real property as a non-resident (ancillary administration).

All probate matters — decedents' estates, the succession petitions, spousal property petitions, conservatorships, and guardianships — are heard at the Markleeville courthouse. There is no separate probate department; the court's single calendar handles probate on Monday afternoons.

One calendar, once a week. Probate is heard Mondays at 3:00 PM. When Monday or Tuesday is a court holiday, the calendar moves to Wednesday that week. The court schedules no matters during the first week of its quarterly two-week jury-trial blocks — plan filing dates around them.

Zoom is the default. Probate matters may be heard by remote videoconference via Zoom unless otherwise ordered. File form RA-010 at least 5 days before the hearing and the clerk emails the invitation. Recording is prohibited.

Paper court. Alpine offers no e-filing and no online case access; there is no public access terminal at the courthouse. Case status and record requests are handled by court staff — call (530) 694-2113.

Counter cutoff. The clerk's office is open until 4:30 PM but accepts filings only until 4:00 PM, and closes for lunch from noon to 1:00 PM. Documents received after 4:00 PM are filed the next business day.

Fax filing. Unusually, Alpine accepts fax filings at (530) 694-2119 for $1.00 per page (20-page maximum) — useful for out-of-county families, though mail is more practical for full petitions.

Most cooperative-family Alpine County probates — spousal petitions, small-estate paths, and uncontested IAEA administration — are completed without an attorney, and the court's remote-first posture makes that practical even for out-of-area families. Consider counsel when the estate exceeds $1 million, a will contest or heir dispute is likely, the estate holds business interests or out-of-state property, or ancillary administration is needed for a non-resident who owned Alpine County real property. Sunset can connect families to a vetted California probate attorney serving Alpine County.

Find the accounts and assets. Sunset searches more than 2,300 financial institutions and California public records to surface bank accounts, retirement plans, brokerage holdings, life insurance, Alpine County real estate, and unclaimed property.

Generate the probate packet. Sunset assembles the statewide Judicial Council DE-series forms for your estate settlement path, the only forms Alpine County requires, ready for signature and filing by mail.

Find a local probate attorney. When the situation calls for counsel, Sunset connects families to a vetted California probate attorney serving Alpine County.

Sunset is free for families. Revenue comes from bank partners that pay Sunset while estate funds sit in an FDIC-insured estate account ($3M coverage).