You inherited a house. Now what?

Usually not — that's the whole point of a trust. If the property was properly deeded into the trust before death, the successor trustee can generally sell it without opening probate. The catch is that families often set up a trust and never move the deed into it. Pull the current vested deed before you assume anything; we'll do that for you at no cost.

Longer than a standard sale, and it varies. You can't sell until the court issues Letters appointing the personal representative. From there, a sale under full IAEA authority adds a 15-day Notice of Proposed Action window, while a court-confirmed sale waits on the court's hearing calendar. Trust sales generally move on a normal escrow timeline. Your probate attorney is the right person to give you dates for your specific case — we'll build the marketing plan around them.

It's the form a personal representative with full authority under the Independent Administration of Estates Act mails to interested parties before taking a major action like selling real property. It describes the property, buyer, price and terms, and it has to go out at least 15 days before the action. If nobody objects in writing within that window, the sale can proceed without court confirmation.

Full authority under the IAEA lets the personal representative sell real property using the Notice of Proposed Action process, without a confirmation hearing. Limited authority still allows most estate administration, but selling real property requires court confirmation — which means the overbid process. Which one you have is stated in the Letters the court issued to you. If you're not sure, send us a photo of your Letters and we'll tell you.

In a court-confirmed sale, yes. At the confirmation hearing, other buyers can bid against the accepted offer. Under Probate Code §10311, the first overbid must exceed the accepted offer by 10% of the first $10,000 plus 5% of the balance — so on a $600,000 offer, the first overbid is $630,500. It's not a reason to panic; it's a reason to prepare your buyer in advance, which we do.

Not in a court-confirmed private sale. Probate Code §10309 requires the offer to be at least 90% of the appraised value, and the appraisal has to be valued within one year before the confirmation hearing. The appraised figure comes from the probate referee appointed to your case, not from a Realtor.

No. Plenty of estate homes sell as-is and do fine. What we do is walk the property and tell you which repairs actually return more than they cost — usually paint, flooring and landscaping — and which ones to skip. Estates rarely have cash sitting around for renovation, so we plan around that reality rather than pretending it isn't there.

When property passes at death, its tax basis generally resets to fair market value as of the date of death. That "stepped-up basis" is what determines capital gains if you sell later. Your CPA needs a defensible value as of that date. We provide a retrospective market analysis for it; for estates where the number is large or contested, your attorney may want a licensed appraiser instead, and we'll say so.

Possibly. Under Proposition 19, the parent-child exclusion generally applies only when the home was the parent's primary residence, the heir makes it their own primary residence and moves in within a year, files the claim with the county assessor within a year, and the value increase stays within the cap above the old assessed value. Miss any of those and the property is reassessed to current market value. This is a question for your CPA or attorney — we just make sure you ask it before you decide to keep or sell.

Sometimes — speed and certainty have real value when an estate is carrying a mortgage, taxes and insurance every month. But probate filings are public, so those letters are a lead list, and the offers are priced accordingly. Get one honest market number before you sign anything. If the cash offer is genuinely your best move, we'll tell you that and you won't owe us a thing.

That's a big share of what we do. We can't referee family decisions, and we won't try. What we can do is put the same facts in front of everyone at once — what it's worth today, what it would rent for, what a buyout would actually cost — so the conversation is about numbers instead of guesses. Our advice is commission-neutral, which means we'll walk you through the option where we don't get paid.

Regularly, and it's some of our favorite work. We know the vocabulary, we hit the deadlines, we document everything, and we don't make you explain the IAEA to us. If you're a fiduciary or attorney looking for an agent in Riverside County who won't create work for you, let's talk.

Nothing. There's no listing agreement to sign to have the first conversation, and there's no obligation afterward. Call or text 951.465.3054, email help@askhardy.com, or book a time that works for you.