Inherited a California House? How Probate and a Sale Work

Trust, Small-Estate Procedure or Full Probate: Which Path Applies

California law passes title to a person's property at death to the beneficiaries named in the will, or to the heirs when there is no will, but that property stays subject to probate administration unless another law provides otherwise. The California Courts self-help guide lists kinds of property that can usually move without probate court, including property in a living trust, property with a named beneficiary and property held in joint tenancy.

Here is how the main branches line up for a house and the rest of an estate:

• Held in a living trust: assets actually placed in the trust should go to the beneficiaries without a probate court case, and trust administration is meant to proceed without court involvement unless someone petitions the court.
• Held in joint tenancy: the surviving owner gets the property.
• Passing to a surviving spouse under the will or by intestate succession: no administration is necessary, and the spouse may ask the court to confirm that on a Spousal or Domestic Partner Property Petition (form DE-221).
• The person's California primary residence, gross value $750,000 or less, for deaths on or after April 1, 2025: a court petition on form DE-310, filed once 40 days have passed since the death, with a hearing.
• California real estate whose combined gross value is $69,625 or less: a notarized affidavit on form DE-305, no sooner than six months after the death, filed with the court and then recorded.
• Money and other personal property, when the California estate's gross value is $208,850 or less: a sworn affidavit handed to the bank or other holder once 40 days have passed, with nothing filed in court.
• Everything else: a formal probate case, opened with a Petition for Probate (form DE-111) in the county where the person lived.

This is general information about how the process works, not legal or tax advice. Every situation is different — talk with a California attorney (and a tax professional) about yours.

Dollar Limits and Waiting Periods for Deaths Since April 1, 2025

Each small-estate limit is tied to the date of death, not the filing date. For deaths on or after April 1, 2025, the figures are $208,850 for the personal-property affidavit, $69,625 for the real property affidavit and $750,000 for the primary-residence petition. Earlier deaths use earlier numbers: the personal-property limit was $184,500 for deaths from April 1, 2022 through March 31, 2025.

The limits measure gross value, so the person's debts and any mortgage on the house are not subtracted, while some property is left out of the count, such as joint tenancy property, property passing to a surviving spouse and property in a revocable trust.

The waiting periods differ: the personal-property affidavit and the primary-residence petition each require that 40 days have passed since the death, and the real property affidavit requires six months. A successor who takes real estate through that six-month affidavit can be personally liable for the person's unsecured debts, up to the property's value minus liens.

The primary-residence route is a court case rather than a form handed to a bank: the petitioner files DE-310 with a probate referee's appraisal of the home, delivers notice of the petition to each heir and devisee within five business days of filing, gives notice of the hearing at least 15 days ahead, and receives the court's order on DE-315. Since January 1, 2025, that petition has been limited to the person's primary residence in California.

The Judicial Council adjusts these amounts every three years using the Consumer Price Index; the latest change took effect April 1, 2025, and the next is scheduled for April 1, 2028. Form DE-300 lists the figures in effect, and the affidavit procedures require it to be attached. A California probate attorney can confirm which figures and waits apply to your family's date of death.

Judicial Council Forms for Each Path

Each path has its own statewide court forms; the numbers below are the ones the California Courts self-help site uses.

Many companies and institutions have their own small-estate affidavit forms. A California probate attorney can tell you which forms your estate's path calls for.

Inside a Formal Probate Case

The self-help guide describes three stages: opening the case, administering the estate and closing it. The petition is filed in the county where the person lived, and the guide lists $435 as the typical filing fee, and a fee waiver can be requested by those who can show financial hardship.

The court sets the first hearing 15 to 30 days after the petition is filed, or 30 to 45 days if the petitioner asks for that when filing. At least 15 days before that hearing, notice on form DE-121 goes to each known heir and to each devisee and executor named in the will. Notice must also be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the city where the person lived; the first publication has to run at least 15 days before the hearing, and three publications in a paper that comes out at least weekly, with at least five days between the first and last, are sufficient.

Unless a probate petition was filed earlier, whoever holds the original will must deliver it to the superior court clerk within 30 days after learning of the death. After the hearing, the Order for Probate (DE-140) appoints the personal representative, but the appointment takes effect only when Letters (DE-150) are issued; until then that person has no power to administer the estate, so no sale can be signed on the estate's behalf.

Within four months after letters are first issued, the representative files an Inventory and Appraisal (DE-160): the representative values cash-type assets, and a probate referee appraises the rest, including real estate. A probate attorney can walk you through each filing as your case reaches it.

The Creditor Claim Period

The representative has to give a Notice of Administration to Creditors (form DE-157) to creditors who are known or reasonably ascertainable. A creditor then has until the later of two dates to file a claim: four months after letters are first issued, or 60 days after the notice was mailed or personally delivered to that creditor.

Separately, a lawsuit on a liability of someone who has died generally has to be brought within one year after the death; that period is tolled or extended only in listed situations, which include the probate creditor-claim rules. A lender with a mortgage on the house can also enforce its lien against the property without filing a creditor claim if it gives up recourse against the rest of the estate. A probate attorney can explain how the claim period fits around a sale or distribution in your estate.

Selling During Probate: Full Authority, Limited Authority and the Notice of Proposed Action

A personal representative can ask, usually in the probate petition itself, for authority under the Independent Administration of Estates Act (IAEA), which lets many estate matters be handled without court approval. The court must grant it unless an interested person objects and shows good cause; when the objection shows good cause for only limited authority, that is what the court grants.

With limited authority, selling real estate, granting an option to buy it, or borrowing money secured by it requires court supervision.

With full authority, the representative can sell the house without a confirmation hearing, which means the 90 percent minimum and courtroom overbidding do not apply, but only after giving a Notice of Proposed Action. The notice (form DE-165 may be used) must state the material terms, including the price and any commission, and be delivered at least 15 days before the date the sale may go forward to each affected heir and devisee and to anyone who requested special notice.

An objection changes the route: if someone entitled to notice delivers a written objection, or serves a restraining order, which the court grants without requiring any cause to be shown, before the proposed date or before the sale is made, whichever is later, the representative may sell only under court supervision. A person who received the notice and did not object generally gives up the right to have the court review the sale afterward. A probate attorney can tell you which kind of authority your estate's representative holds and what it means for a sale.

Court-Confirmed Sales: Appraisal, the 90 Percent Rule and Overbids

Apart from sales under IAEA authority, a sale of estate real estate must be reported to the court and confirmed before title passes to the buyer, on a Report of Sale and Petition for Order Confirming Sale of Real Property (form DE-260); if the representative does not file within 30 days after the sale, the buyer may file instead.

Notice of a private sale is generally published first under Government Code section 6063a, which calls for at least 10 days of publication; when the appraised value is $5,000 or less, the representative may post the notice at the courthouse for at least 15 days instead.

For a private sale, the house must have been appraised within one year before the confirmation hearing, and the accepted offer must be at least 90 percent of that appraised value. The hearing is noticed at least 15 days ahead; the court examines the need for or advantage of the sale (unless the will authorizes it) and what the representative did to get the most the property could reasonably bring, and any interested person may file written objections.

Other buyers can make written overbids at that hearing, and the minimum overbid is the original bid plus 10 percent of its first $10,000 plus 5 percent of the amount above $10,000, which form DE-260 lays out as a three-line formula. When a qualifying overbid comes from a responsible bidder and complies with the law, the court must accept the biggest one, though it may instead decline and order a new sale. A probate attorney can explain how a confirmation hearing would run in your estate's court.

Statutory Probate Fees: How the Percentages Work

For ordinary services, the Probate Code entitles the personal representative and the representative's attorney each to compensation on the same sliding scale, with each rate applying only to the slice of the estate in its tier.

The base is the inventory's appraised value plus gains on sales and receipts, minus losses on sales, figured without subtracting mortgages or other debts on estate property. The court may allow more for extraordinary services, fees need court approval even under full IAEA authority, and the self-help guide says fees are usually not paid until the end of the case.

Rates from Probate Code sections 10800 and 10810, which apply the same scale to the representative and to the attorney. A California probate attorney can explain how the scale would apply to a particular estate.

A Realistic Probate Timeline

The self-help guide says a formal case typically takes 9 to 18 months and can sometimes take longer, and that the fastest a probate can happen in California is typically 9 months.

Several checkpoints inside that range come from statute: the first hearing usually 15 to 30 days after filing, the inventory within four months after letters, a creditor window of at least four months after letters, and a petition for final distribution or a status report within one year after letters (18 months if a federal estate tax return is required).

A sale during the case adds its own steps, either the notice period before a sale under full authority or the confirmation hearing. To close the estate, the representative files a final report, a final account and a petition for final distribution, and a judge decides at a hearing whether to approve distributing what remains; the account is not needed if everyone entitled to distribution waives it in writing. A probate attorney can tell you where your family's case stands against these checkpoints.

Property Taxes After an Inheritance: Prop 19 in Brief

Proposition 19 changed California's parent-child property tax exclusion for transfers on or after February 16, 2021, and for inherited property it applies when the death occurred on or after that date. For a home, the exclusion now reaches only a family home that was the parent's principal residence and becomes the child's principal residence; a rental passed from parent to child does not qualify. The home has to become the child's principal residence within one year, and BOE guidance says there are no exceptions to that rule.

The exclusion is claimed on form BOE-19-P with the county assessor within three years after the death or before the property is transferred to a third party, whichever is earlier. The child must also file for the homeowners' exemption (form BOE-266) or the disabled veterans' exemption within one year. The exclusion is capped at the home's prior taxable value plus an amount adjusted every other year, $1,044,586 for transfers from February 16, 2025 through February 15, 2027.

For a home sold soon after a parent's death, August 2026 BOE guidance says an eligible child who met the one-year residency requirement can still receive the exclusion for the period before the sale if the homeowners' exemption claim was filed within one year of the death and the exclusion claim was timely. These forms are filed with the assessor of the county where the property is located, and a tax professional or California attorney can explain how Prop 19 applies to your family.

Where Probate Is Filed in the Seven Counties We Serve

A California resident's estate is probated in the county where the person was domiciled, regardless of where the death occurred. Spark Home Offers buys houses in seven Central Valley counties: Fresno, Madera, Tulare, Kings, Merced, Stanislaus and San Joaquin.

In Fresno County, a probate case starts when a petition is filed with the probate clerk at the B.F. Sisk Courthouse, 1130 O Street, third floor. Madera County's probate department is part of the Civil Division at the main courthouse, 200 South G Street in Madera. Merced County probate pleadings may be filed with the Civil Division at the Old Merced Courthouse, 627 W 21st Street. In Tulare County, a petition filed with Civil Legal Filings, Room 201, 221 South Mooney Blvd in Visalia starts the case.

In Kings County, the Superior Court's Civil Division at 1640 Kings County Drive in Hanford handles probate matters. Stanislaus County's Probate Unit is in the Civil Clerk's Office on the fourth floor of 801 10th Street in Modesto. San Joaquin County moved its probate department to the Lodi courthouse, 315 W. Elm Street, in February 2025. A probate attorney who practices in the county can explain that court's local rules.

Selling the House to Spark Home Offers

Inherited and probate houses are a situation we buy in, so you can sell a family home without the cleanup or repairs. Take what you want to keep and leave the rest; we'll handle the cleanout and the repairs after closing.

We close at a reputable local title company on the date you choose, and we pay the standard closing costs. The estate's process still comes first: a Notice of Proposed Action has to go out at least 15 days before the sale date it names, a court-confirmed sale cannot transfer title until the court confirms it, and in a confirmed sale any buyer's offer, ours included, can be overbid at the hearing.

This is general information about how the process works, not legal or tax advice. Every situation is different — talk with a California attorney (and a tax professional) about yours.