Seller guide · 10 min read
Probate, trusts, and selling an inherited house in San Diego County.
Before an inherited house can be sold, someone has to have legal authority to sign the deed. How you get that authority — and how long it takes — depends on whether there's a trust, a will, or nothing. This guide walks through each path as it works in San Diego County.
Start here
Which path are you on?
General information for California homeowners, not legal, tax, or financial advice. Laws change and every situation differs — confirm with a California attorney, escrow or title company, or tax professional.
Living trust
If the house was titled in the name of a trust, the successor trustee administers it without court involvement. Recording an affidavit of death of trustee (with the death certificate) and providing a certification of trust to escrow is usually enough to sell. Fastest path by far.
Will, no trust
A will must be admitted to probate in San Diego County Superior Court (Central Courthouse, downtown). The court appoints the executor named in the will, who then has authority to sell — usually under the Independent Administration of Estates Act.
No will, no trust
The court appoints an administrator (typically a close relative who petitions) and California's intestate succession rules decide who inherits. Same probate process, plus a determination of heirs.
Joint tenancy or community property with right of survivorship
If title passed automatically to a surviving joint tenant or spouse, an affidavit of death recorded with the death certificate clears title — no probate needed for that transfer.
Probate
How a probate sale works in San Diego County
Probate starts with a petition, a published notice, and a hearing — typically a couple of months after filing. Once Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration issue, the personal representative can act. Most California probates grant full authority under the Independent Administration of Estates Act (IAEA), which lets the representative sell the house by giving heirs a Notice of Proposed Action (15 days to object) instead of a court confirmation hearing with overbidding. If only limited authority was granted, or an heir objects, the sale goes to court confirmation, which adds months and a public overbid process.
Probate also requires an inventory and appraisal by a court-appointed probate referee, creditor notices with a four-month claim window, and a final accounting before distribution. Even a smooth probate usually runs nine months to over a year. The house can be sold during that time; the proceeds sit in the estate account until distribution.
Shortcuts
Small-estate and primary-residence procedures
- Estates under California's small-estate threshold (adjusted periodically for inflation) can use a simplified affidavit or petition instead of full probate, but real property has its own lower limits and forms
- A Petition to Determine Succession to Real Property can transfer a house under the real-property limit without full administration
- Since 2025, a decedent's primary residence under a set value can be transferred by petition without full probate — a meaningful change for modest South Bay homes; confirm current limits with a probate attorney
- A spousal or domestic-partner property petition can pass property to a surviving spouse quickly
Taxes
Prop 19 and the inherited home
The single biggest surprise for San Diego heirs is property tax. Since Proposition 19 took effect in February 2021, the parent-child (and grandparent-grandchild) exclusion from reassessment only applies if the child makes the inherited home their primary residence and files the claim within the deadline, and even then only up to the old assessed value plus a set amount. Otherwise the home is reassessed to market value as of the date of death, and the supplemental bill can arrive months later. A house your parents bought in Chula Vista decades ago may now carry a tax bill many times higher.
Federal and California income tax on a sale are usually small thanks to the stepped-up basis to date-of-death value. Estate tax applies only to very large estates. Our Prop 13 / Prop 19 guide has more.
Selling
What a buyer will need from the estate or trust
- Trust sale: certification of trust, recorded affidavit of death of trustee, death certificate, trustee's ID
- Probate sale: certified Letters, proof of IAEA authority, and either the Notice of Proposed Action with no objections or a court order confirming the sale
- A preliminary title report showing any mortgage, reverse mortgage, liens, or tax defaults to be paid at closing
- If several heirs are on title after distribution, all must sign; out-of-state signers use a mobile notary
- An estate or trust EIN for escrow's tax reporting, and the attorney's or fiduciary's contact for escrow to coordinate with
FAQ
Questions San Diego homeowners ask
Can we sell the house before probate is done?
Once the personal representative has Letters and IAEA authority, yes — the sale can close while the rest of the probate continues. Before Letters issue, you can accept an offer and open escrow subject to the court's authority.
How much does probate cost in California?
Attorney and executor fees are set by statute as percentages of the estate's gross value — the value of the house before any mortgage is subtracted — plus court and referee fees. On a San Diego home that's substantial, which is why families use trusts.
The house is in a trust but the successor trustee died too. Now what?
The trust document usually names an alternate; if not, the beneficiaries can agree on one or petition the court. A trust attorney can sort it out quickly.
One heir is living in the house and won't leave. Can we sell?
The estate or trust can generally still sell; the occupying heir's rights depend on whether they're a beneficiary and whether they're paying rent. It may require a probate court order or, after distribution, a partition action. Talk to an attorney before listing.