Estate of Parsons CA2/7

INTRODUCTION

In August 2021, Joseph L. McClory filed a petition in propria persona to probate the will of John Whiteside Parsons, who died in 1952. The probate court granted McClory three continuances, totaling approximately one year, to address deficiencies in the petition. When another party objected to the probating of the will, the probate court granted the objector and McClory two additional continuances to address pleading deficiencies, which together totaled four months. In December 2022, at the final hearing on the matter, McClory explained that he had not served all interested parties with 15 days’ notice of the hearing in accordance with Probate Code section 8110 due to certain issues with his process server.1 McClory also acknowledged he had still not appointed a personal representative for Parsons’s late wife’s estate as the probate court had directed him to do. The court stated it would grant no further continuances for McClory to resolve the deficiencies with his petition and denied it without prejudice. McClory’s sole argument on appeal is that the court should have granted him another continuance to cure the deficiencies with his petition. We conclude that even if…