What Is a Probate Code Section 850 Petition?

A Probate Code section 850 petition is the probate court's mechanism for resolving ownership disputes over property claimed by or against an estate, trust, or conservatorship. It lets an executor, trustee, beneficiary, or claimant ask the court to order property transferred to where it rightfully belongs: into the trust or estate when someone else is holding its assets, or out to a third party when the estate holds property that belongs to someone else.

The petition covers a remarkable range of fights: title to real property the decedent deeded away under suspicious circumstances, assets a caregiver or relative transferred to themselves before death, unfunded trust assets in the Heggstad scenario, disputed beneficial interests, and contract claims to convey property. When property was taken in bad faith through undue influence or elder financial abuse, Probate Code section 859 adds teeth: the court can assess double damages against the wrongdoer, plus attorney's fees in elder abuse cases.

Because 850 petitions are tried in probate court, they move faster than many civil actions and land in front of judges who see these family patterns daily. They are the workhorse of pre-death transfer disputes and asset recovery in trust and estate litigation.

A Broad Tool for Property Disputes

Probate Code section 850 allows a petition to be filed where a trustee, personal representative, or interested person claims that an estate or trust holds property belonging to someone else, or that a third party holds property belonging to the estate or trust. It is sometimes called a claim for conveyance or transfer of property.

Its reach is broad. It covers real and personal property, it can be used to bring assets in or to release assets out, and it consolidates in the probate department disputes that would otherwise require a separate civil action. The Heggstad petition is one well known application of it.

The Double Damages Provision

Section 859 gives the remedy real teeth. Where a court finds that a person has in bad faith wrongfully taken, concealed, or disposed of property belonging to an estate, trust, conservatee, minor, or elder or dependent adult, or has taken it through undue influence, the person is generally liable for twice the value of the property recovered.

The statute also provides for attorney fees and costs in the court's discretion. That combination changes the settlement dynamic substantially, because a defendant facing a double damages exposure plus fees has a very different risk calculation than one facing a simple return of the asset.

Typical Uses

Common applications include recovering assets a caregiver or family member transferred to themselves before death, confirming trust ownership of an asset that was never formally retitled, resolving disputes over accounts with changed beneficiary designations, and recovering property from a former fiduciary who refuses to turn it over.

Because a section 850 petition can be paired with claims for undue influence and financial elder abuse, it is frequently the central procedural vehicle in the recovery phase of a trust or estate dispute rather than a standalone filing.