Short answer: Selling a house that belonged to someone who died in California usually means going through court-supervised probate, unless the property qualifies for one of the state’s small estate exceptions. California requires formal probate for an estate with assets subject to probate totaling more than $208,850 (gross value, before debts), for deaths on or after April 1, 2025. A surviving spouse, domestic partner, or child can petition to transfer a decedent’s primary residence valued up to $750,000 without full probate, for deaths on or after April 1, 2025, under Probate Code § 13151. Above those numbers, the personal representative sells the real estate under the Superior Court’s supervision, and the statutory fees that come out of the sale proceeds are set by formula, not negotiation.
Does Every House Owned by a Deceased Person Have to Go Through Probate?
No. If the house was held in joint tenancy, in a payable-on-death or transfer-on-death arrangement, or in a properly funded revocable living trust, it generally passes outside of probate regardless of value. Probate only applies to assets that were in the decedent’s name alone and did not have one of those pass-through arrangements attached to them.
For those assets, California requires formal probate when the gross value of the probate estate exceeds $208,850, for deaths on or after April 1, 2025. That threshold holds until the next scheduled adjustment on April 1, 2028, under Probate Code § 13100. Below that number, families may be able to use a personal property affidavit instead of opening a full probate case.
Real property gets its own set of shortcuts. A surviving spouse, domestic partner, or child can petition the court to transfer a decedent’s primary residence valued up to $750,000, for deaths on or after April 1, 2025, without going through full probate, under Probate Code § 13151. A different, narrower affidavit procedure applies to non-primary-residence real property valued at $69,625 or less, under Probate Code § 13150, and requires a six month waiting period before it can be used. A house worth more than these thresholds, and not otherwise held in a trust or joint tenancy, goes through full probate.
How Long Does a Probate Real Estate Sale Take in California?
Most California probate cases take twelve to eighteen months from the date the court appoints a personal representative. The personal representative must file an Inventory and Appraisal, including the real estate, within four months of receiving Letters from the court. If the estate is still open at the 18 month mark, the personal representative has to file a status report explaining what remains to be done.
The sale of the house happens somewhere inside that window, not at the start of it. Before a sale can close, the personal representative typically has to complete the creditor notice process, get the property appraised, and in many cases obtain court confirmation of the sale terms. None of that happens overnight, and a family expecting a quick sale is usually disappointed by how much administrative work has to happen first.
What Does It Cost to Sell a House Through Probate?
The statutory fees paid to the executor and to the estate’s attorney are the biggest cost most families do not see coming, and they are calculated on the gross value of the estate, not the amount left after the mortgage. Probate Code § 10800 sets the schedule: 4% of the first $100,000, 3% of the next $100,000, 2% of the next $800,000, 1% of the next $9,000,000, and 0.5% of the next $15,000,000. That fee runs “without reference to encumbrances,” meaning a mortgage on the house does not reduce it. Probate Code § 10810 entitles the estate’s attorney to an identical fee, calculated separately on the same schedule.
On a $1,000,000 gross estate, the schedule produces $23,000 for the executor and a separate $23,000 for the attorney, for $46,000 in ordinary statutory fees before court costs, bond premiums, or extraordinary fees. Selling real property is itself grounds for extraordinary compensation beyond the ordinary schedule, at the court’s discretion, under Probate Code § 10801, so a contested or complicated sale can add to that total.
These fees come directly out of the sale proceeds before anyone gets a distribution. Families weighing whether a probate sale is worth the cost, compared to a trust that would have avoided this process entirely, should run the actual numbers for their estate rather than assume a rough percentage. Ridley Law’s probate fee calculator does that calculation using the same statutory schedule described above.
What Does Court Supervision of the Sale Actually Involve?
The personal representative has to notify creditors before the estate can be closed out. That means publishing notice in a local newspaper once a week for four consecutive weeks, and mailing direct written notice to each known creditor within 30 days of learning the creditor exists, under Probate Code §§ 9001 and 9051. A creditor generally must file its claim by the later of four months after Letters are issued or 60 days after direct notice was mailed, under Probate Code § 9100, with a hard one year outer limit from the date of death regardless of when notice went out.
The personal representative is also responsible for maintaining the property while the case is open. Property taxes, insurance, and basic upkeep do not pause during probate, and those costs are typically paid from estate funds before the sale closes. A house that sits vacant and unmaintained for the better part of a year is a common and avoidable source of value loss in these cases.
What to Do Next
If you are the personal representative of an estate that includes California real estate, get the property appraised early and confirm which threshold and procedure actually applies before assuming a full probate sale is required. If you are planning your own estate and want to keep your house out of this process altogether, a funded revocable living trust is the tool that does that, not a will. An estate planning attorney can tell you within one conversation whether your situation calls for a full probate sale, a small estate shortcut, or a trust-based alternative going forward. See Ridley Law’s probate and living trust pages for more on each path.
Figures verified July 2026.
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