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Question: My daughter owned her condo for over 15 years before she suddenly passed away. I managed to have her estate submitted to probate, and I'm the court-appointed executor. Immediately I began receiving invoices and letters from people who live in her complex claiming she owed them money. She didn't owe any association fees that I know of but I don't know how to confirm this. What is the legal process for claims filed against an estate, and how do I find out her homeowner association account status?

As much as I love great olive oil, I also recognize that depending on how you're using it, you don't always need the most expensive. As a general rule, I use good olive oil for cooking; great olive oil for making salad dressings; and the very best olive oil when it is being drizzled over an item as a "finishing oil. " Some of my favorite brands are: Alziari, Capezzana, Castello di Ama, Fontodi, Monini DOP, Núñez de Prado and Olio Verde. When shopping for olive oil: Look for olive oil that comes in a non-clear bottle; a good oil's herbaceous qualities are destroyed by heat and light.

On May 21, Angelenos will have the opportunity to elect a new mayor, along with a city attorney, city controller and several City Council members. The importance of this election cannot be overstated. It is generally well known that City Hall shapes tax, regulatory and land-use policies and provides oversight and appointment powers over numerous commissions, departments, agencies and the civil workforce. What many may not know is that it also owns economic assets that are responsible for a large portion of the region's workforce and overall economic horsepower: LAX, the Port of Los Angeles, the Convention Center and the Department of Water and Power.

A partial lunar eclipse will occur Thursday and you can watch it live, right here, beginning at noon Pacific time. But, be forewarned: This lunar eclipse, the first of 2013, is expected to be spectacularly unspectacular. NASA describes it as a " barely partial eclipse " because less than 1.5% of the moon will be darkened by Earth's shadow. Also, the eclipse will last for just 27 minutes, making it one of the shortest lunar eclipses of the century. Unfortunately, my fellow North Americans won't be able to see this short and subtle eclipse by looking up at the night sky because it takes place during our daylight hours when the moon is less visible.

Chris Paul had just finished an amazing performance. In Game 2 of the Clippers first-round playoff series against Memphis, the point guard made a four-foot buzzer-beating bank shot with one-tenth of a second remaining in the game to give his team a 93-91 win.  In the locker room afterward, Paul's teammates apparently wanted to ensure that his 3-year-old son follows in his footsteps. Grant Hill, a seven-time All-Star, gave Paul's son, Little Chris, a dunking lesson. Hill stuck out his arms and pretended to be a hoop.

The HTC One went on sale in stores last week, but strangely, one of the most advanced smartphones available on the market comes with one of its most useful features turned off. The nifty tool, called "Next word prediction," is enabled when users type. As users finish writing a word, the tool displays three words above the keyboard that users can easily tap on to add to their sentence. The feature can be quite a time saver, especially if you are typing out common phrases, such as "Hi, how are you doing?"

Diners confronted with the sweat equivalents of food offerings on a restaurant menu get a good, hard look at what they are in for -- and order a lower-calorie meal -- than do those who see actual calorie counts or no nutritional data at all, new research says. At Texas Christian University, researchers recruited 300 young adults and offered them each a menu with much of the usual casual dining fare: hamburgers, chicken sandwiches, French fries, salads, desserts, sodas and water. A third of the participants got a menu that had no calorie counts, and another third got a menu with the calorie counts of individual food items prominently listed.

This week our SoCal Garden Clinic turns to problematic avocado trees: Question from reader Steven Klein of Malibu: In November 2011, I planted a 3-gallon Lamb Hass avocado tree on a slope with full sun about 90% of the day. Despite my ineptitude, this tree continues to survive, although it has lost several branches and 65% of its leaves. There is some sign of new growth, and I would like to help it along, even though it may take several years. A similar mature avocado tree existed in the same general location for years and did well with almost no care until it was consumed by fire.

Hey there, tenacious sky watchers: Forecasters say the Lyrid meteor shower will peak late Sunday night and into Monday morning, so set your alarm clocks and gather your blankets. You've got a show to watch. The Lyrid meteor shower takes place each April as our planet passes through debris left by the tail of the Comet Thatcher. The meteors are actually little bits of that debris, often no larger than a grain of sand, that burn up in  Earth's atmosphere, causing light to streak across the sky.  Photos: Amazing images from space The Lyrid meteor shower was first recorded more than 2,000 years ago by Chinese astronomers who wrote that "stars fell like rain," according to Sky and Telescope .  These days, however, the Lyrids are decidedly less dramatic.

SACRAMENTO - The cow bell crowd came to beg some more for NBA attention, maybe the last Kings' game to be contested on this prairie before a move to Seattle. But there was the real possibility the energy in this graveyard might raise the Kings from the dead, thereby sending the Clippers to Memphis to begin the playoffs. However, this has been the best regular season in Clippers' history, with Wednesday night's 112-108 victory the exclamation point. While the local yokels remained here in their seats long after the game was over, chanting, "Here we stay," there's a lot more basketball to be played in Los Angeles.