How do you sell an inherited house in Orange County?

How was the house held when the owner died?

Start with the deed and any estate papers, because the title decides who can sign a listing agreement and when.

• A living trust. If the deed shows the house in the name of a trust, the successor trustee steps in when the owner dies. The trustee can hire a listing agent and sign the sale without a court case. A certified copy of the death certificate and the trust pages that name the trustee are what the title company will ask for.
• Joint tenancy or community property with right of survivorship. The surviving owner takes the house by law. Recording an affidavit of death with the county clears the title, and the survivor can then sell.
• A transfer on death deed. A revocable transfer on death deed, recorded before the death, passes the house to the named beneficiary outside probate.
• Passing to a surviving spouse. A surviving spouse can usually take the house without full probate through a spousal property petition under Probate Code 13650, which the court decides on a shorter track.
• The owner's name alone, with or without a will. A will names an executor but does not avoid probate. This is the case that runs into the dollar limits below.

If the deed is unclear, a title company or an estate attorney can tell you how it was held.

When can heirs sell an inherited house without probate?

California has short-cut procedures for smaller estates. The Judicial Council adjusts the limits every three years, and the amounts for deaths on or after April 1, 2025 are:

The $750,000 figure is new. Before April 2025 the same petition topped out at $184,500, so almost no house qualified. It is still a court petition, but a much shorter one than a full probate case.

In most of Orange County the new limit still does not reach. Redfin put the county's median sale price at $1,207,298 for September 2026, and the city figures on our guide pages run higher near the coast. A main home worth more than $750,000, held in the owner's name alone and not passing to a surviving spouse, usually goes through probate. A rental or second home has no $750,000 path at all: it qualifies for a short-cut only under the far lower $208,850 estate test or the $69,625 affidavit, so most Orange County rentals held in one name go through probate too.

What does an Orange County probate sale look like?

Once the court appoints the executor (or an administrator, if there is no will) and issues letters, that person can sell the house for the estate, with or without a court hearing.

With court confirmation. The executor accepts an offer, and the sale goes to a hearing. At the hearing, anyone can bid more. The first overbid has to beat the accepted price by 10% of the first $10,000 plus 5% of the rest, under Probate Code 10311. On a $1,200,000 accepted offer, that is $1,000 plus $59,500: an opening overbid of at least $1,260,500. Buyers know this, so a confirmation sale needs to be priced and marketed with the hearing in mind.

Under full independent authority. If the court granted full authority under the Independent Administration of Estates Act, the executor can sell without a hearing. They send each heir a notice of proposed action at least 15 days before the sale, under Probate Code 10586. If no one objects in that window, the sale goes ahead like an ordinary escrow.

The listing discloses that it is a probate or estate sale, and the buyer's offer is written on terms that fit the approval route.

What does probate cost on an Orange County house?

California sets the attorney's ordinary fee by statute in Probate Code 10810, figured on the value of the estate accounted for:

• 4% of the first $100,000
• 3% of the next $100,000
• 2% of the next $800,000
• 1% of the next $9 million

On an estate valued at Orange County's $1,207,298 median, that comes to about $25,073 for the attorney. The executor is entitled to an ordinary fee on the same scale, though family executors sometimes waive it. Court filing fees, the probate referee's appraisal and the usual costs of a home sale come on top.

That cost is one reason so many Orange County owners put their homes in living trusts. Heirs already in probate can plan for it in the net figure they expect from the sale.

What happens to taxes when you sell an inherited house?

Income tax is often small. Under IRS rules in Publication 551, an heir's basis in an inherited house is generally its fair market value on the date of death, not what the parent paid decades ago. If the house sells for close to that value, there is little or no gain to tax. A date-of-death appraisal, which the probate referee also prepares, is worth keeping for your CPA.

Property tax resets for the buyer. The parent's low Prop 13 tax base does not carry over to a buyer. An heir can keep it only by moving in: under Prop 19, a child keeps the parent's base on the parent's main home, as their own main home, up to the cap explained in our Prop 19 article. That claim is filed with the Orange County Assessor, whose office answers at (714) 834-2727, and it only matters to an heir who moves in.

Should you fix up an inherited house before selling?

Many inherited homes in Orange County have not been updated in decades: original kitchens, older electrical panels, a roof near the end of its life. The executor has a choice that a regular seller also has, and it is worth pricing both sides.

The first option is to list it as it is, or with light work. Clearing the house, a deep clean, paint and yard work cost little and widen the pool of buyers. Orange County homes typically found a buyer in about seven weeks: Redfin counted 47 median days on market for the county in September 2026.

The second is a cash offer. A cash buyer takes the house with the repairs, the furniture and the timing, usually for less than a listed sale. When he is not also the estate's listing agent, Greg can make a written cash offer as a principal, disclosing that he is a licensed broker, so the heirs can compare it with a listing price. In a probate sale his offer goes through the same notice or court confirmation steps as any other buyer's. The two ways to sell page shows how that comparison works.

What should heirs do first?

1. Order several certified copies of the death certificate.
2. Find the deed and any trust, will or transfer on death deed.
3. Keep paying the mortgage, insurance and utilities, and tell the insurer the house is vacant.
4. If probate is needed, talk to an estate attorney about filing the petition.
5. Get a written home value so the estate knows what it is working with. The home value page sends Greg's estimate.

Greg Toussieng is a licensed California broker, DRE #01495415. He is not an attorney or a tax adviser, and this article is general information: an estate attorney and a CPA should advise on your own estate.