Selling a House Through Probate

The house is usually the biggest thing in the estate, and the hardest part to sell. This book is written for the person who has to sell it.

Selling a House Through Probate is a plain-English guide for a California executor or administrator, and for the trustee of a living trust that holds a house. It’s written by a California attorney whose practice emphasizes estate planning, trust administration and probate, and it follows the order the steps come in: the weeks after the death, the court appointment, the listing, the notice to the family, and the closing.

What’s inside

• Before you list. Securing and insuring the house, the mortgage, a reverse mortgage, and the people living there, while nobody yet has the power to sell.
• Getting the power to sell. Letters, bond, and the difference between full and limited authority under the Independent Administration of Estates Act.
• The Notice of Proposed Action. Who gets it, what it must say, the 15-day window, and what happens if someone objects.
• Court confirmation and the overbid. When the court must confirm the sale, the 90 percent floor, and how another buyer can outbid yours at the hearing, with the arithmetic shown.
• Listings and commissions. Choosing an agent, what the listing should say, and who gets paid when the buyer changes in court.
• Disclosures and as-is sales. Which forms an estate sale skips, which rules still apply, and why “as is” doesn’t excuse hiding a known problem.
• Escrow, taxes and the money. Who can buy, what comes out of the price, California withholding, the stepped-up basis, and when the heirs get paid.
• Trust sales. What changes when the house is in a living trust, and what to do if the trust was never funded.
• Timelines and family disputes. A realistic calendar, an heir who won’t leave, a sibling who wants to buy, and the most common mistakes.

Every dollar example is labeled as an illustration and shows its arithmetic. Every rule is tied to its source in the California codes, the Rules of Court and the Judicial Council forms. The back of the book has printable checklists, worksheets, a glossary and a page of this year’s figures.

This book is general information about California law. It isn’t legal, tax or real estate advice, and it isn’t affiliated with or endorsed by the California courts.

Read the free guide first

• Selling a house that’s in a trust or an estate
• Selling trust property in California
• Probate in Southern California, county by county

More books: when someone dies

• The First 30 Days After a DeathComing soon
• You’re the Trustee Now: Your First 90 DaysComing soon
• Mom Died and the House Is Still in Her NameComing soon