If you’ve recently lost a parent or a loved one and there’s a house involved, first — we’re sorry for your loss. The legal side of this can feel like a second job on top of grief, and it usually arrives with a stack of unfamiliar words: executor, letters, IAEA, referee. This page is our attempt to explain, in plain English, the part families ask us about most: what happens with the house, and when — and how — it can be sold.

The short answer: yes, a house can usually be sold during probate

The most common worry we hear is that the house is frozen until probate completely ends. In most cases, that’s not how it works. Once the court has appointed a personal representative (the executor or administrator) and given them authority over the estate’s real property, the house can usually be sold while probate is still going on. The sale proceeds go into the estate’s account, and they stay there — distributed to heirs only when the court closes the estate.

Whether you can sell on your own signature or need a judge’s approval first depends on the kind of authority the court granted you. That’s the next section, and it’s the single most important thing to understand before you talk to any buyer or agent — including us.

How California probate works, in plain English

Probate is the court-supervised process of settling someone’s estate: proving the will (if there is one), appointing a personal representative, paying the estate’s debts and taxes, and transferring what’s left to the heirs. For an estate that includes a house, here’s the honest timeline families should expect:

• Full probate commonly takes about 9 to 18 months from filing to closing the estate. Some estates finish sooner; estates with disputes, tax complications, or property in more than one county can take longer.
• Within that process, there’s a creditor-claim period of at least 4 months, during which people the deceased owed money to can file claims against the estate.
• The personal representative is the only person who can sign for the estate. If you’re an heir but not the appointed representative, you can’t sell the house yourself — even if everyone in the family agrees.

We tell families this up front because some of the timelines get quoted optimistically elsewhere. Probate is slow mostly because the court calendar and the required waiting periods are slow, not because anyone is doing something wrong.

Full authority vs. limited authority (IAEA) — the difference that decides how you can sell

Most California probates are opened under the Independent Administration of Estates Act (IAEA) — the part of the Probate Code (§§10400 and following) that lets a personal representative handle estate business without asking the court’s permission for every step. It comes in two levels, and which one you have changes how the house can be sold:

Full authority means you can sell the house without a court-confirmation hearing. You still have to give formal notice of the proposed sale to the heirs and other interested parties, and they have a window to object — but there’s no judge approving the price, and no public bidding. Most representatives request full authority, and it’s commonly granted when the will doesn’t forbid it and no heir objects.

Limited authority means real property can only be sold with court confirmation. That’s slower and more formal, and it comes with the 90% rule and overbidding explained next. Limited authority may be required when the will calls for it, when an interested person objects to full authority, or when the court orders closer supervision.

Practical takeaway: before you accept any offer or sign any listing, find your Letters — the court document that appointed you — and check which authority they grant. If you’re not sure what you have, your attorney or the probate clerk at the courthouse (county addresses below) can tell you in a few minutes. And if a buyer pressures you to sign before you’ve confirmed your authority, that buyer is telling you something about themselves.

The 90% rule and overbidding, explained simply

If the estate is under limited authority, the sale needs court confirmation, and two safeguards apply:

• The 90% rule: the court generally won’t confirm a sale for less than 90% of the appraised value set by the probate referee — an independent appraiser the court appoints to value estate property.
• Overbidding: at the confirmation hearing, other buyers can show up and bid more than your accepted offer, under the court’s bidding rules. Your original buyer can bid too. The court confirms the highest acceptable bid.

Families are sometimes startled by overbidding, but the system exists for a fair reason: it protects the estate — and all the heirs — from a below-value sale. The trade-off is time and uncertainty: a confirmed sale takes longer, and you don’t fully control who the final buyer is.

Under full authority, neither of these applies — no confirmation hearing, no overbidding — which is one reason the process moves more smoothly when full authority is granted.

Before you assume you need full probate: the AB 2016 $750,000 petition and the $208,850 affidavit

Here’s something newer that a lot of families — and, frankly, a lot of websites — haven’t caught up with.

For deaths on or after April 1, 2025, California’s AB 2016 lets a decedent’s primary residence worth $750,000 or less pass to heirs through a Petition to Determine Succession to Real Property (Probate Code §§13150–13157) instead of a full formal probate. It’s still a court filing, and a judge still reviews it — but it’s a much shorter, simpler proceeding than full probate.

Separately, where an estate’s remaining California property totals $208,850 or less, the small-estate affidavit procedure (Probate Code §13100) can often be used for those assets without opening a full probate at all.

Why this matters for the families we talk to: in Modesto, Stockton, and Vallejo, a large share of family homes fall under that $750,000 line, which means some families bracing for a year-plus of full probate may have a shorter path. In Napa and much of Contra Costa, home values more often exceed it, and full probate remains the route — but it’s always worth checking which side of the line the property is on before assuming.

We can’t tell you whether your family’s property qualifies — the valuation date, the property’s character as a primary residence, and the rest of the estate all matter, and that’s a question for a probate attorney. But it’s worth asking the question, because nobody benefits from doing full probate when the law provides a shorter way — including us. A shorter process is better for everyone at the table.

When you can sell: a realistic sequence

1. Someone passes, and the will (if any) is located. If there’s no will, the court appoints an administrator under California’s intestacy rules.
2. A petition is filed in the superior court of the county where the deceased lived (county courthouses below) — or, if the estate qualifies, the AB 2016 succession petition instead.
3. The court appoints the personal representative and issues Letters, with full or limited authority.
4. The probate referee appraises the property, debts and claims are identified, and the creditor-claim period runs.
5. The house can be sold once the representative has the authority to sell it — during the administration, not only at the end. Proceeds go to the estate account.
6. The estate closes when debts, taxes, and distributions are settled and the court signs off.

One question we hear often: “What about the taxes when we sell?” Inherited property generally gets a stepped-up tax basis, and Proposition 19 can matter if an heir keeps the home as a primary residence — we wrote a separate page on the tax consequences of selling an inherited house, and it’s worth reading before you decide timing. And as with everything here: confirm your family’s specifics with a CPA.

Selling the house itself: list it, or sell it as-is?

Once you have the authority to sell, you have the same basic choices any seller has — but probate adds wrinkles worth being honest about:

Listing with an agent usually gets the highest price if the house is in good, financeable condition and the estate can carry it — mortgage payments, insurance, taxes, upkeep — for the months a listing, escrow, and (under limited authority) court confirmation can take. Repairs, clean-out, and staging come out of the estate, and a house full of a parent’s belongings is often the hardest part of the whole probate for families, emotionally and logistically.

Selling as-is to a direct buyer (which is what we do) trades some price for certainty and simplicity: no repairs, no clean-out — families take what they want to keep and leave the rest — no showings, and a closing that works around the court’s schedule rather than a retail buyer’s lender. We want to be straightforward about how this works, because you should hear it from us rather than wonder: we buy below what the house would sell for repaired and listed, we do the repairs, and we resell or rent the home afterward. That’s how we make our money. For some estates that’s the wrong trade. For an estate carrying a vacant, deteriorating house with out-of-state heirs and a court deadline, it’s frequently the right one.

There’s no version of this decision where you’re obligated to us. If the numbers make more sense listed, we’ll tell you — we’d rather be the people who explained your options clearly than the people who bought a house that shouldn’t have been sold to us.

And sometimes the right answer is don’t sell yet at all — an heir may want to keep the home, or the estate may be better served waiting. That decision belongs to your family and your attorney, and everything on this page is written to help you make it with clear eyes.

Where probate is filed in our counties

Probate is filed in the superior court of the county where the deceased lived. These are the courthouses for the counties we work in (verified October 2026 — court pages occasionally move, so it’s worth a quick check before you drive over):

Questions families ask us

Q: Can we sell the house before probate is finished?

A: Usually, yes — once the personal representative has been appointed and has authority over real property, the house can be sold during the administration. It doesn’t have to wait until the estate closes.

Q: Do all the heirs have to agree to the sale?

A: The personal representative is the one who signs and makes the sale decision within their authority — but under full authority, heirs receive formal notice and can object, and under limited authority the court confirms the sale. Big disagreements among heirs are a reason to involve your attorney early, not a reason to rush.

Q: My siblings and I live in different states. Do we have to travel to California to sell?

A: Generally, no. The appointed representative signs for the estate, and closings can usually be handled through escrow with a mobile notary where you li ve. Most of the process can be handled by phone and email.

Q: What if the house has a mortgage, or the estate owes money?

A: That’s normal. Debts are part of what probate sorts out: liens and loans against the house are paid from the sale proceeds at closing, and the estate’s other obligations are handled through the claims process. If the estate also has mortgage arrears, our page on what happens after a Notice of Default explains that timeline.

Q: What if there’s no will?

A: The court appoints an administrator, and the property passes under California’s intestate succession rules. The process takes the same shape — it just starts with the court’s appointment rather than the will’s nomination.

Talk it through with us — no obligation

If you’re an executor or an heir trying to work out what to do with a house, we’re happy to talk through where you are in the process and what your options look like — including the options that don’t involve us at all. If selling as-is makes sense for your family, we’ll explain exactly what we’d offer and how we got to the number. If listing it, keeping it, or simply waiting makes more sense, we’ll say that too.

You can reach us at (415) 727-0080, or tell us a little about the property on our sell-my-house page and we’ll call you back. You can also read how the process works and a bit about us first — take your time.

And one last question, the one we ask every family we sit down with: when it comes to selling your property, what would make the process worthwhile for you?

— Rey & Lusi, Amoenus Home Buyers

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