Estate Appraisal, Valuation of Property

for Probate Purposes.

Hi, I’m Kim Ward, real estate advisor in San Diego California and expert with helping sell homes in probate or trusts. Welcome back to my channel! If you’re new here thanks for joining us today. I post new videos every week so come back to

So, what’s important about estate appraisal? valuation of property for probate purposes? A probate case requires the decedent’s, the person who’s passed away, property to be appraised in order to determine the market value of the decedent’s home as of the date of death. The reason for this is that the probate court needs to have an idea of the home’s value. You must go through the process if a loved one leaves a will with enough property to warrant the full probate process.

Also, if there isn’t a will someone will need to be appointed to be the administrator of the estate. To learn more about that just click HERE. If the total value of the estate is less than $150,000 then you generally will not need to go through probate in California, but in San Diego any real estate has a market value WAY over $150,000!

What types of property need to be appraised? All property should be appraised for its cash value with the exception of less expensive items, such as those that could be sold at a yard sale. An inventory of estate assets includes non-cash assets and cash assets. non-cash assets, such as real estate, vehicles, and jewelry should be professionally appraised to determine the cash value of each of those items. So, who completes the property appraisal? The appraisal on the house? The person that does that is known as the probate referee, they’re an appraiser.

In California, the probate referee, they will be the people to evaluate the non-cash assets of the estate. Probate referees are appraisers that are qualified by undergoing strict educational and testing requirements. They are appointed by the California state controller’s office for each county in California. I imagine you’re wondering what does an appraisal involve?

So, your probate attorney will file documentation to get a probate referee assigned to the case. When the personal representative, the executor or administrator, is appointed by the probate court. The probate court will also designate the specific probate referee that should be used for that particular state. The probate referee must be used in most circumstances, but his or her services, they are not free! Instead the fees will be 1/10 of 1% of the value of the property that is appraised by the referee.

The probate referee typically drives by the house, rarely do they view the interior. Your referee will research comparable homes within about a half a mile or so of the decedent’s home and come up with a date of death market value. The last thing to share is that a probate sale must be within 90 percent of the probate referees appraisal.

So, what that means to you as an example is if the probate referee determines the date of death property value of $600,000 the home would not be able to sell for less than $540,000. That’s the overview of what an estate appraisal entails.