The fight brewing over the estate and remains of cult leader Charles Manson was narrowed to a pen pal and a purported grandson but it is not clear where the battle will be fought.
A Los Angeles Superior Court judge on Monday scheduled a hearing later this month to determine the county where the matter should be decided.
Manson died at a hospital in Kern County in November but was incarcerated in Corcoran State Prison in neighbouring Kings County.
A lawyer representing the purported grandson says Los Angeles County is the proper venue because Manson lived there before he was imprisoned for orchestrating the 1969 killings of pregnant actress Sharon Tate and eight other people.
At least two others expected to make a claim on the estate did not show up in court.
AP