Probate

Probate is a court-administered process of distributing a deceased person’s (decedent’s) estate/assets according to their will if one exists or, if there is no will, to the person’s immediate  spouse/children/siblings/relatives.

Some years ago, a client was referred to us after she had been appointed Executor of her late father's estate, which included two homes. Having never been tasked with a probate sale, we moved rapidly to educate ourselves on the process and the steps involved in order to best assist her. As a result of this experience we learned two elemental truths. The first being that this process is inherently frustrating and often brings about headache and heartache. Our focus was to make sure we did everything in our power to alleviate stress and provide impeccable client care. The second is that as real estate professionals we can only do so much. In order to extend our client care into the entire process, we needed to form a team of law and tax experts familiar with probate. We now have a team of strategic partners who have proven their ability to overcome any challenge.

After a number of successful probate cases and once we felt confident in our team, we began reaching out to those in a similar situation as our first client. So what began as one probate sale, has now brought years of experience in selling estate property. You can be assured that we can handle your estate with the utmost care and compassion.

An Executor (Executrix if a female) is the person who is named in the Will to take charge of an estate. An Administrator is the person in charge of the estate when someone dies without a Last Will and Testament. Both the Administrator and Executor are subject to the jurisdiction of the Probate Court. The most significant difference between an Executor and an Administrator is that an Administrator’s authority is limited to what the law provides in the statutes. The Executor has all the same legal authority PLUS additional powers that may be granted in the Last Will and Testament.

If an Administrator is appointed with limited authority, court supervision is required to sell, exchange or grant an option to purchase the estate’s real property. Prob. C.§10501(b). An Administrator appointed with full authority may elect to have the sale confirmed by the Court, but is not required to do so.

The Probate process generally takes approximately nine to twelve months to complete. Probate is the only way to transfer real property from the deceased person to the heirs in the event that no trust was set up prior to the decedent’s death.

A decedent’s will may designate the manner in which estate real property is to be sold or identify the particular property to be sold. Absent a court order based upon the best interests of the interested parties to the contrary, the personal representative shall comply with the decedent’s instructions. If the will is silent on these matters or there is no will, the personal representative may select the method of sale and the particular property to be sold. Estate real property may be sold by private sale, public auction, or a different method specified in the will of the decedent (Cal. Prob. Code §§ 10000.3, 10303).

Without full authority under the Independent Administration of Estates Act (IAEA), the minimum offer price for a private sale of real property must be at least 90 percent of the appraised value of the property (Cal. Prob. Code § 10309(a)(3)). If the Personal Representative has full authority then the estate does not have to sell the house for the required 90% minimum of the value.