Most lawyers will tell you that despite the seeming complexity of legal proceedings, most of the laws and rules are really built around a few universal legal principles of justice and fairness.
For instance, the deadlines or timelines in probate proceedings are intended to safeguard one core principle: that of finality. That is, interested persons are given the opportunity to come forward with their concerns, but only for a limited time. If they don’t do so within the specified timelines, the matter proceeds, and any decision that has been made so far will be deemed final. Because, at the end of the day, you can’t keep reopening legal matters that have already been considered closed.
In a petition for probate, for instance, if a will is presented and admitted to probate, interested persons are given 120 days or roughly four months to file a will contest. This is set out in Probate Code § 8270(a).
The general rule is that if the interested person files beyond this deadline, the will contest will now be considered filed out of time, and barred.
But as with most things, this general rule has an exception.
The 120-day rule does not apply to those who had no capacity to contest the will
One exception to the 120-day rule is set out in subsection (b) of Probate Code § 8270. That is, the 120 days limit does not apply to persons who are minors or who was incompetent and had no guardian or conservator at the time a will was admitted to probate.
Essentially, this means that a person who did not have the capacity (due to minority or incompetency) to contest the will, and did not have a guardian or a conservator who could have acted on their behalf to contest the will, at the time the will was admitted to probate, is not bound by the 120-day limit.
Even after the 120 days have passed, and it would be assumed that the said person has gained competency (either they have reached the age of majority or is no longer incompetent), or have gained the benefit of a fiduciary acting for them through a guardianship or conservatorship, can petition to revoke the will after its admission to probate, even after 120 days have passed.
In terms of the fundamental legal principles, this is a balancing of the need for court orders (admitting the will to probate) to be final vis-à-vis the interests of persons who had legitimate reasons to contest the will but were not legally able to do so.
In the end, however, the need for finality in court orders would still need to prevail. The right of this class of interested persons to seek legal remedy is not infinite. There is a hard stop to when anyone, whether they fall under an exception or not, can petition to revoke probate.
No further petition to revoke probate may be brought after the entry of an order for final distribution of the estate. The entire process has been seen through to its conclusion, the estate has been distributed, and the order has become final. The court’s interest would now be in ensuring that this entire process remains final.
Conclusion
The probate system is ultimately built on a deliberate balance between two competing principles: fairness and finality. On one hand, the law recognizes that certain individuals—such as minors or those without legal capacity—cannot be expected to protect their own interests within strict procedural deadlines. On the other, it maintains a firm structure that requires estate matters to reach a definitive end.
Once the estate reaches final distribution, however, the focus of the legal system is ensuring the stability of what has already been adjudicated.
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If you believe you have grounds to contest the admission of a will into probate, or if you are seeking to defend a will against a petition for its revocation, timing is critical. Probate law imposes strict statutory deadlines, and failing to act within those timeframes can significantly limit the remedies available. The assistance of a probate attorney can help ensure that your rights are properly evaluated and that any available legal options are pursued within the applicable procedural limits.