Probate Pre-Grants & Notes

Pre-grants are available on new probate petitions, spousal property petitions, final distribution petitions and other selected probate matters.

Pre-Grant Orders

Probate pre-grants are the court’s intended rulings on your petition, motion, or other filings that is set for hearing. These are posted the court day before your hearing. Pre-grant orders are available on new probate petitions, spousal property petitions, final distribution petitions, and other selected probate matters. Pre-grant orders are not posted for guardianships and conservatorships.

Probate pre-grants will be posted after 2:00 p.m. on the day before the hearing date.

Probate pre-grants for the following departments are posted with that department’s civil tentative rulings. Every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the documents placed on the web site, but the court is not responsible for delays, errors or omissions in these web pages. The official court documents are those filed with the case record, and any questions should be directed to the department where the hearing is set.

• Department Eight (Judge Getty)
• Department Ten (Judge Donovan)
• Department Twelve (Judge Carringer)
• Department Twenty-Two (Judge Jones)
• All Other Departments

Attending Hearings

If you are satisfied with the intended ruling, your appearance at the hearing is not required. You need only submit an order for the Court’s signature. The pre-grant shall become the ruling of the court unless one or more parties appears at the hearing.

If there is a deficiency in the pleadings, you will need to appear at the hearing. If you need time to correct the error or submit additional documentation in support of your petition, please notify the judicial assistant for that department no later than 4:30 PM one court day preceding the hearing.

You may also need to appear at the hearing if:

• If your case is not included in the list of pre-grant orders/notes
• You wish to be heard on the proposed ruling
• The matter is contested (e.g. someone has filed an objection to the petition)
• Proof of a holographic will is required and has not been previously given to the court
• The petition concerns court confirmation of a sale of property
• The pre-grant order tells you to appear.

Probate Notes

The Solano Superior Court is pleased to announce the re-deployment of probate notes, effective February 26th, 2024.

Probate notes are prepared by the court’s probate staff after reviewing petitions, motions, or other filings set for hearing. Probate notes will be posted on all probate matters except for guardianship and conservatorships.

These notes inform parties of any identified issues with their filings, giving them the opportunity to rectify them prior to the hearing. While the notes do not represent the judge’s final rulings and should not be solely relied upon, fixing the errors identified, can increase the likelihood of parties not needing to appear at the hearing.

Probate notes are generally available one week prior to the hearing date. If the notes identify defects, problems may be corrected (known as “clearing the probate notes”) by filing the appropriate document(s). Documents and attachments may not be submitted directly to court staff via email; however, they can now be submitted using our e-filing service. For more information on how to e-file, please visit our website homepage under Online Services, e-filing.

For access to probate notes, the court’s public portal website now offers an enhanced view of case information from the court’s management system. To request access, please visit our website homepage under Court Case Updates, Case Search for detailed instructions and more information.