How to sell an inherited house in Orange County

01Is the house in a trust, in probate, or passing another way?

Start with the deed and the estate documents, because the way title was held decides every later step. A house held in a living trust, in joint tenancy, as community property with right of survivorship, or under a transfer-on-death deed generally passes without probate. A house in the decedent’s own name usually goes through probate unless a simplified procedure applies^1,2,29.

The $750,000 petition applies to deaths on or after April 1, 2025³. The rest of this guide follows the two main paths: a trust sale and a probate sale.

02Who has the authority to sell?

In a trust sale, the successor trustee has the authority to sell. California law gives a trustee the power to dispose of property “at public or private sale” and intends trust administration to proceed “free of judicial intervention,” subject to any limits in the trust document^4,5. In probate, the executor or administrator sells, and the court’s grant of authority sets the steps.

The trustee, not the beneficiaries, signs the listing agreement and the deed, unless the trust document requires something more⁴. The trust’s attorney should confirm what the document allows before the house is listed.

Probate authority comes in two forms under the Independent Administration of Estates Act. Full authority lets the personal representative sell real property after giving notice to interested persons. Limited authority excludes selling real property, so a sale needs court supervision^6,7.

03Which notices and waiting periods come first?

Both paths start with notice. When a revocable trust becomes irrevocable at a death, the trustee must serve a notification on beneficiaries and heirs within 60 days, and that notice warns that any contest must be brought within 120 days⁸. In probate, creditors generally have until four months after letters first issue, or 60 days after a mailed notice if later, to file claims⁹.

• Notice of Proposed Action. A personal representative with full authority sells after serving this notice (Judicial Council form DE-165) at least 15 days before the action date^10,11.
• Objections. If someone objects to the proposed sale, it can go forward only under court supervision¹².
• Court confirmation. When the court supervises a private sale, the property must have been appraised within one year before the hearing, and the offer must be at least 90% of the appraised value¹³.
• Overbids. At the confirmation hearing another buyer can bid, but the new bid must be at least 10% more on the first $10,000 of the original bid and 5% more on the amount of the original bid above $10,000¹⁴.

04Should the family keep the parent’s tax base or sell?

Proposition 19 lets a child keep a parent’s assessed value only if the house was the parent’s principal residence and becomes the child’s principal residence within one year. The exclusion is capped at the factored base year value plus $1,044,586 for transfers from February 16, 2025 through February 15, 2027^15,16.

A rental or second home no longer qualifies for the parent-child exclusion, and neither does a family home that no child moves into¹⁵. When the house is sold, the parent’s tax base does not pass to the buyer, so the question matters mainly when one heir wants to keep it.

A child who keeps the house files form BOE-19-P with the Orange County Assessor within three years of the transfer and before any transfer to a third party. When a parent has died, the date of death counts as the transfer date¹⁶. A buyout among siblings raises its own Prop 19 questions, so ask the Assessor and the trust’s attorney before agreeing terms.

05What tax will heirs owe when the house sells?

Heirs generally owe income tax only on gain above the home’s value at the date of death, because inherited property usually takes a new basis equal to its fair market value on that date. For a married couple’s community property, the surviving spouse’s half can also receive a new basis^17,18.

• California taxes capital gains as ordinary income and has no lower capital gains rate¹⁹.
• Escrow withholds 3 1/3% of the sales price for California income tax unless an exemption applies. When the decedent’s estate or trust sells, two exemptions can apply: the decedent met the two-of-five-year ownership and use test, or the house was last used as the decedent’s principal residence, without regard to the two-year period. A house last used as a rental or second home does not qualify for the second²⁰.
• The date-of-death value sets the basis used to measure gain, so ask the estate’s CPA early which valuation they want and from whom.

06Sell as-is or prepare the house?

Selling as-is keeps the estate’s cash outlay and the time before listing to a minimum. Repairs or cosmetic work cost money and time up front, and someone has to authorize and supervise them. The choice turns on the trust or estate’s cash, the condition of the house, the authority the trustee or executor holds and whether the heirs agree on spending.

1. 01Does the trust or estate hold the cash for the work, or would an heir have to advance it?
2. 02Does the trustee’s or executor’s authority cover the spending, and have the beneficiaries been told?
3. 03While the house sits empty, who handles insurance, utilities, security and upkeep?
4. 04Will the marketing show the house as it is, or as it could be?

Edited photos come with a legal requirement. Since January 1, 2026, a licensee who advertises a property with a digitally altered image, such as a virtually staged photo or one edited to add, remove or change features, must say the image was altered and link to the unaltered original. Routine adjustments such as lighting, white balance and cropping do not count²¹.

07Which disclosures still apply to a trust or estate sale?

A trust or estate sale is exempt from some disclosures, not all of them. Court-ordered sales, including probate sales, and sales by a fiduciary administering a trust or a decedent’s estate are exempt from the Transfer Disclosure Statement and the Natural Hazard Disclosure Statement^22,23.

Both fiduciary exemptions stop short of one case: a trustee who is a natural person, serving a revocable trust, where the trustee or seller is a former owner of the property or lived in it within the preceding year^22,23. Exempt sellers “may be subject to other disclosure requirements,” the natural hazard statute adds²³. The smoke alarm statute does not apply to court-ordered or fiduciary transfers²⁴, while federal lead-based paint rules set their own requirements for homes built before 1978²⁵. The trustee or executor should ask the attorney and the listing broker which disclosures apply before the house goes on the market.

08What if heirs disagree or live abroad?

The trustee or executor keeps the authority to sell, but disagreement can slow the sale. In probate, an objection to a Notice of Proposed Action sends the sale to court supervision¹². Trust administration runs without the court by default, yet remains subject to its jurisdiction, so a beneficiary can ask a judge to step in⁵.

Heirs who live outside the United States can take part from abroad, but the schedule should allow for time zones and for any documents that must be signed and notarized. Tax status matters too. When the seller is a foreign person, FIRPTA generally requires the buyer to withhold 15% of the amount realized, with lower or no withholding in limited cases where the buyer will live in the home²⁶. Whether that applies depends on who the seller is (the trust, the estate or the heirs themselves), so raise it with a CPA early.

09How long does each path usually take?

Probate runs on a court calendar. A Board of Equalization analysis says the probate process “generally takes 9 to 18 months from beginning to end, and can sometimes take even longer”²⁷. A trust sale has no court calendar; its fixed clocks are the 60-day notification and the contest window that follows⁸.

• Trust: notification within 60 days; contests due within 120 days of service, or 60 days after a copy of the trust terms is delivered during that period, whichever is later⁸.
• Probate with full authority: a Notice of Proposed Action at least 15 days before the sale; creditor claims due by the later of four months after letters or 60 days after mailed notice^11,9.
• Probate with court confirmation: a hearing set by the court, with an appraisal dated within the prior year¹³.
• Probate overall: a petition for final distribution, or a status report, within one year after letters, or 18 months if a federal estate tax return is required²⁸.
• Prop 19, if a child keeps the house: move in within one year; file BOE-19-P within three years¹⁶.

No statute sets the length of escrow; the purchase contract does, so the closing date can be planned around these clocks.