The Prop 19 Trap

When a parent dies, the family house can keep its low property tax or lose it. The difference is usually a deadline nobody knew about.

The Prop 19 Trap is a plain-English guide for California families inheriting a parent’s house, and for the parents planning ahead. It’s written by a California attorney whose practice emphasizes estate planning, trust administration and probate. It follows the order families meet the rules: the weeks after a death, the first year, and the decisions about who keeps the house.

What’s inside

• What changed. Since February 16, 2021, Proposition 19 protects a parent’s tax base only for the family home or a family farm, and only up to a dollar limit.
• The family home test. What counts as the parent’s home, including a parent in a care facility, a duplex and an ADU.
• The clocks. One year for a child to move in, one year to file the homeowners’ exemption, and the claim deadlines, with what happens when one is missed.
• The value cap. How the limit works, with the arithmetic shown on three houses.
• Rentals and second homes. Why they’re reassessed, and why an LLC doesn’t fix it.
• Trusts, wills and probate. Why the clock starts at the death, not the deed.
• Siblings. How a buyout can cost the family the tax base on most of the house, and the trustee’s division that can keep it.
• Grandchildren, stepchildren and in-laws. Who counts as a child.
• The forms. BOE-19-P, BOE-266, BOE-502-D and the rest, with who files and when.
• For parents. Why deeding the house to the children now usually backfires, and the 55-and-older rule for moving.

Every dollar example is labeled as an illustration and shows its arithmetic. Every rule is tied to its source in the California Constitution, the Revenue and Taxation Code and the Board of Equalization’s own guidance. The back of the book has checklists, worksheets, a glossary and a page of current figures.

This book is general information about California law. It isn’t legal or tax advice, and it isn’t affiliated with or endorsed by the State Board of Equalization or any county assessor.

Read the free guide first

• Prop 19 and the inherited house
• What it takes to keep the parent’s tax base
• Prop 19 reassessment calculator

More books: when you inherit

• What to Expect When You’re InheritingComing soon
• The Inherited IRA ClockComing soon
• You Just Inherited a Million DollarsComing soon