Butte County, CA Probate Information

Before filing anything with the Butte 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, and choosing wrong means refiling and re-noticing a hearing weeks out. Butte publishes probate tentative rulings before each hearing, so a petition with gaps is flagged on the record and continued until it is fixed.

Identify every bank account, retirement plan, brokerage, life insurance policy, business interest, and parcel of real property — 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 Butte hears every probate matter in the county — decedents' estates, succession and spousal petitions, conservatorships, guardianships, and trust matters — at the North Butte County Courthouse, 1775 Concord Avenue, Chico. Although Oroville is the county seat and the court's other courthouse (One Court Street) handles criminal, family, and juvenile matters, probate is grouped with civil in Chico. Families throughout the county, from Oroville and Gridley to Chico, Paradise, and the ridge communities, file in Chico.

The Chico courthouse opened on March 23, 2015, replacing the court's aging 1966 Chico courthouse and folding in a small satellite operation in Paradise. Venue in Butte County is proper when the decedent was domiciled in the county at death (Cal. Prob. Code § 7051), or owned Butte County real property as a non-resident (ancillary administration).

Probate is in Chico, not Oroville. Even though Oroville is the county seat, probate for the entire county is heard at the North Butte County Courthouse, 1775 Concord Avenue, Chico. The Oroville courthouse handles criminal, family, and juvenile matters. The Chico courthouse opened March 23, 2015 and absorbed the court's older Chico and Paradise operations.

E-filing is mandatory. Butte requires e-filing in all probate matters for attorneys and represented parties through an Odyssey eFileCA service provider. Self-represented filers are exempt but encouraged to participate. Original wills, codicils, and testamentary trusts must still be lodged on paper, as must conservator/guardian financial accountings under Cal. Prob. Code § 2620.

Tentative rulings are published. The court posts probate tentative rulings online at butte.courts.ca.gov; law-and-motion tentative rulings are up by 3:00 PM the court day before the hearing. Reviewing your tentative ruling before the hearing is Butte's equivalent of clearing examiner notes elsewhere.

Remote appearances moved to CourtCall RCS. Since March 23, 2026, remote appearances run on the CourtCall Remote Court Scheduler, which issues a Microsoft Teams link — replacing the court's earlier CourtCall Classic and Zoom methods. File RA-010 (with proposed order RA-020) at least 5 court days before the hearing, or 10 court days before an evidentiary hearing. Case management conferences and law-and-motion matters are preapproved for remote appearance under Local Rule 1.10(D)(1); other appearances need judicial approval.

No probate self-help. The court's Self-Help Assistance and Referral Program (SHARP) covers family law, guardianships, evictions, small claims, name and gender changes, and restraining orders — not decedents' estates. Estate filers rely on the court's form packets, the law library, and, where needed, counsel.

Many cooperative-family Butte County probates — spousal petitions, small-estate paths, and uncontested IAEA administration — are completed without an attorney, and the court's remote-appearance process makes that practical 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, ancillary administration is needed for a non-resident who owned Butte County real property, or the court's tentative rulings keep flagging problems the family cannot resolve. Because Butte's SHARP self-help program does not cover decedents' estates, self-represented filers have limited court support for anything contested. Sunset can connect families to a vetted California probate attorney serving Butte County.

Find the accounts and assets. Sunset searches more than 2,300 financial institutions and Butte County public records to surface bank accounts, retirement plans, brokerage holdings, life insurance, real estate (with community-property characterization), business interests, and unclaimed property.

Generate the probate packet. Sunset assembles the statewide Judicial Council DE-series forms for your estate settlement path, ready for e-filing through an Odyssey eFileCA service provider or for paper filing by a self-represented family.

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