Inverness is a Census community of 1,379 people on the west side of Tomales Bay. Like the rest of West Marin, it has no courthouse and no city government; the County of Marin and the Superior Court in San Rafael handle its legal business. This page concentrates on one family of papers, the ones probate court produces: a will that must reach the court, notices to heirs, and petitions to appoint someone to manage another person's affairs.
It takes them in the order they usually come up, and it explains the two ZIP Codes that split the community. Inverness is about 82 miles from our Sacramento office in a straight line, and the Hall of Justice is about 18.6 miles from the community's Census center point.
Two ZIP Codes for one community
The Census Bureau's 2020 ZCTA to place relationship file divides the Inverness Census-designated place, about 6.4 square miles of land, between two ZIP Code areas:
| ZIP Code area | Inverness land inside it | What else it holds |
|---|---|---|
| 94956 | About 3.9 square miles, roughly 61% | All of Point Reyes Station, plus open land |
| 94937 | About 2.5 square miles, roughly 39% | About 53.7 square miles outside any city or Census community |
ZIP Code area 94937 is large for so few addresses. It has about 56.2 square miles of land and 8.9 square miles of water, and Inverness is the only Census community in it. About 96% of its land lies outside any named place.
The split matters when an heir list or a court notice carries an address. An Inverness address written with the wrong ZIP may still be deliverable by mail, but a server needs the house, not the post office's routing. Send the street number, the road and a nearby landmark, and say whether the parcel has more than one building.
When an Inverness resident dies: the will comes first
The first paper after a death is often the will itself. Marin's probate page says a decedent's will must be lodged with the court within thirty calendar days of the date of death. The statute behind it, Probate Code § 8200, puts the obligation on the custodian of the will: unless a petition for probate has already been filed, the custodian must deliver it to the clerk of the superior court within 30 days after learning of the death, and send a copy to the named executor, or to a named beneficiary if the executor can't be found. A custodian who ignores the duty can be liable for the damages that follow.
The statute allows delivery in person or by registered or certified mail. It doesn't allow e-filing in Marin. Local Rule 1.51(B)(2) lists wills and codicils among the documents that "shall not be filed electronically," and the court's eFiling page repeats it, adding probate bonds and any order bearing an original judicial signature. So an original Inverness will goes on paper to the Clerk's Office in Room 113 of the Hall of Justice, either by hand during clerk hours or by mail to P.O. Box 4988, San Rafael, CA 94913. A court runner can lodge it and bring back proof. Our Marin County court filing service handles that trip.
Opening the estate in San Rafael
A petition to administer the estate is filed in Room 113 or, for an attorney, electronically, as Local Rule 1.51(B)(1) requires of represented parties in probate cases. Since Administrative Order 26-01 took effect in February 2026, each later e-filed document that needs its own file stamp goes in as a separate PDF with its own transaction receipt. The papers that open a case may still be filed as one bundle.
Marin's probate page adds two working details:
- The 3:30 p.m. line. Documents received in the clerk's office after 3:30 p.m. are stamped with that day's date but processed the next court day.
- The probate examiner. A probate examiner or research attorney reviews every document in estate, conservatorship and guardianship cases for procedural correctness before the hearing, and can't give legal advice.
Notice of the hearing then goes out under Probate Code § 8110: at least 15 days before the hearing, to every heir the petitioner knows of or can reasonably find, and to every devisee, executor and alternate executor named in any will offered for probate, even if a later document revokes the gift or appointment. That notice is delivered under § 1215, which generally means mail. If a hearing has to move fast, the Civil Division page says probate ex parte papers must arrive by 10:00 a.m. two court days before the hearing, with notice to other parties by 10:00 a.m. one court day before, and probate ex parte matters are heard Thursdays at 9:00 a.m. in Courtroom C. General information, not legal advice.
Heirs who live somewhere else
Mailed notice is only as good as the address list. An Inverness estate can have heirs in San Francisco, Sacramento or another state, and some may not have a current address on file at all. Before notices go out, skip tracing can look for a current address for a missing heir. Our post on how to find a defendant in California explains the same search methods.
Some probate papers need more than a mailing. A citation the court issues, a petition in a contested trust matter, or a subpoena for a witness may call for personal delivery. Read what the court ordered or what the statute says for that paper before choosing a method, and tell us which papers go to which person.
Papers to serve in Inverness?
A conservatorship petition for an Inverness resident
Conservatorships bring a different kind of service. Marin's conservatorship page explains that once a petition is filed, the court appoints an attorney for the proposed conservatee and sets a hearing, and court investigators interview the person before the first hearing. The investigators may also speak with family members, neighbors and others.
Probate Code § 1824 sets the service rule for the proposed conservatee: the citation and a copy of the petition must be served at least 15 days before the hearing, by personal delivery under CCP § 415.10, by mail with an acknowledgment under § 415.30, or in another way the court authorizes. A petition for a temporary conservatorship can be filed with the general petition, but not on its own, according to the court's page.
Serving someone who may be frail or confused takes care. Tell us who lives with the person, whether a caregiver answers the door, the best time of day, and whether the person is in a care facility instead of at home. A server can then plan a calm delivery that still satisfies the statute. General information, not legal advice.
Guardianships and the papers after appointment
Probate court also handles guardianships of children. Marin's guardianship page describes two kinds: a guardianship of the person, where someone other than a parent takes custody of a child, and a guardianship of the estate, which lets a guardian make financial decisions for a minor and is often filed when a child is to receive a large gift or inheritance. The court may require those funds to go into a blocked account that releases money only with court approval. The law requires an investigation of anyone seeking to become a guardian, and the court charges a fee for it.
Appointment isn't the last step. Before the clerk issues Letters of Guardianship, the guardian completes Judicial Council form GC-248, watches the court's film on guardianship and files local form FL033/PR033 confirming it. A proposed conservator follows a parallel path, with form GC-348, a different film and local form PR034. As with conservatorships, a temporary guardianship petition can be filed with the main petition but not on its own. Relatives entitled to notice of a guardianship hearing may live far from Inverness, so the address work starts early.
Trusts and the probate court
Not every estate goes through probate. The court's decedents' estates page explains that property in joint tenancy, gifts made before death and assets in certain living trusts aren't probated. The same court still hears trust disputes: trustees, beneficiaries or the trust can petition to remove a trustee, release assets, amend the trust, appoint a successor trustee or get other orders. Those petitions are filed in Room 113, and the people named in them still have to receive notice.
What helps at an Inverness address
For any Inverness paper, probate or otherwise, the most useful notes are practical:
- The house, not just the box. A street number and road, plus which building on the lot.
- Who's there. A spouse, caregiver or tenant who may answer instead of the person named.
- Timing. When the person is home, and whether they spend part of the year elsewhere.
- Access. A gate, a steep or unpaved drive, dogs, or a parking note.
- The deadline. The hearing date and the date service must be finished.
Remote areas are subject to different timelines. Good notes are what let a first visit count.
The Sheriff as an alternative
The Marin County Sheriff's Documentary Services / Civil Division, 1600 Los Gamos Drive, Suite 200, San Rafael, also serves process at Marin addresses, about 17.6 miles from central Inverness. It asks for two copies per person, a completed SER-001 and payment with the papers, charges $50 for most service, and doesn't research addresses. For an heir who lives outside Marin, the Sheriff can't help, and a private server can go to the new county. Our guide on who can serve papers in California explains the options.
Changes coming in 2027
From January 1, 2027, under AB 747, three good-faith attempts at personal delivery, on 3 different days at 3 different times, show reasonable diligence before papers are left with another adult at a home (CCP § 415.20(b)(2)). The county clerk's register of process servers also becomes public. Our AB 747 guide covers the details, and the proof of service guide shows what a server's signed proof contains.
Starting an Inverness request
Upload up to 5 PDFs to the Service Request: the petition, citation or notice, and a list of each person to be served with every address you have. Add the hearing date and the directions in the notes, and choose Rush or Standard; for an estate with several heirs, call 855-582-5776 to plan the order of service. Get status updates by email, or email Service@ValproAttorneyServices.com, Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. For a company in the estate, our serving corporations page explains agents for service. We make no guarantees for service.
Near Inverness
Point Reyes Station is about 2.5 miles east and Olema 4.7 miles southeast. Marshall, across Tomales Bay, is 5.8 miles north, and Nicasio 8.5 miles east. Every community we serve in the county is on our Marin County page.