Probate Myths to Ghost This Halloween: What Bay Area Heirs Need to Know

Six probate myths worth burying

Halloween is a fine excuse to clear out some ghosts. In my work as a probate and trust real estate specialist across San Francisco and Marin, I hear the same half-truths from heirs and executors every week. Most of them cost families money or time or both. Here are the six I would most like to put to rest.

Myth 1: "We have to sell it as-is"

No statute requires it. A personal representative or trustee can clear, repair, paint, stage, and market an estate home exactly like any other seller. The best recent example is 20 Cherry Street in Presidio Heights, sold by a family trust after more than 40 years in one family. It listed at $18.5 million on October 2 and closed October 22 at $28.5 million, $10 million over asking. That house was prepared, priced to invite competition, and sold accordingly. An estate is not a discount label.

There are good reasons to sell some houses as-is: a tight timeline, no cash in the estate, or a property so dated that a builder is the obvious buyer. Those are choices, not requirements, and they should be made deliberately.

Myth 2: "Probate takes two years"

The California Courts' own self-help guidance says formal probate typically takes nine to eighteen months. Can it run longer? Yes, if there is a dispute, a missing heir, or a property that will not sell. But two years is not the baseline, and the real estate piece is often the part that moves fastest once the representative has authority to act.

Myth 3: "The court or the county sets the price"

The personal representative sets the list price. What the court system does is appoint a probate referee, who appraises the property on the Inventory and Appraisal, form DE-160. If the sale requires court confirmation, Probate Code section 10309 says the sale price must be at least 90 percent of that appraisal. At the confirmation hearing, anyone can overbid; under section 10311, the first overbid must be at least 10 percent of the first $10,000 plus 5 percent of the remainder of the original bid.

So the referee's number is a floor, not a price tag. In a market where well-prepared homes are drawing multiple offers, the floor is rarely where things end up.

Myth 4: "Every probate sale needs a court hearing"

Not under the Independent Administration of Estates Act. If the representative has full authority under Probate Code sections 10503 and 10511, they can sell without court confirmation. The procedure is a 15-day Notice of Proposed Action to the heirs. If nobody objects, the sale proceeds much like a conventional one. Most of the probate sales I handle run this way. The court confirmation process still exists and is sometimes the right path, but it is not automatic.

Myth 5: "We have to empty the house before we can do anything"

There is no legal requirement to clear a house before listing it or before the estate moves forward. The clear-out should be coordinated with the estate's timeline, not treated as a gate. In practice I sequence it: decide what the family keeps, deal with the rest in one pass, then prepare the house. Doing it in that order, rather than letting it drag for months while the property sits, saves carrying costs and keeps the sale on schedule.

Myth 6: "The heirs lose the Prop 13 tax base"

Not necessarily, but the rules are strict. Under Proposition 19, a child who inherits a parent's home can exclude $1,044,586 of value above the taxable value from reassessment for transfers between February 16, 2025 and February 15, 2027. The catch: the child has to move into the home and file for the Homeowners' Exemption within one year. If the house becomes a rental or sits vacant, or the exemption is not filed, the property is reassessed at market value.

In Marin, where many of the homes I see were bought decades ago and carry very low taxable values, this is often the single biggest financial decision the heirs face. It deserves a conversation with a tax professional before anyone decides whether to keep or sell.

A note on cost

Jay Greene, writing in the SF Bay Times on October 22, estimates roughly $56,000 in combined statutory attorney and executor fees on a typical San Francisco home in probate. Those fees are set by statute, which is one reason families with a living trust avoid the process altogether. If your parents own a home and do not have a trust, that number is worth sharing with them.

What I tell heirs on the first call

Three things. First, get the property taxes current and sort out the Prop 19 filing, because those deadlines do not wait for grief. Second, do not assume anything about the process until you know whether the estate has full authority under the IAEA. Third, the house can be sold well. Estates in San Francisco and Marin are selling at full value this fall when they are prepared and priced correctly. The ghosts in this post are the only thing standing in the way.

Sources: SF Business Times, Oct 25, 2026 (20 Cherry St); California Courts self-help guide on probate timelines; California Probate Code §§10309, 10311, 10503, 10511; Judicial Council form DE-160; California State Board of Equalization NR 25-02, Mar 7, 2025; SF Bay Times (Jay Greene), Oct 22, 2026. This article is general information, not tax or legal advice.