What to do with the house when you’re the successor trustee, in Santa Clara, San Mateo and Alameda Counties
Someone you love died, and somewhere in the middle of the funeral arrangements and the phone calls, you found out you’re the successor trustee. Which means the house is now, somehow, your responsibility.
If you feel like you have no idea what you’re supposed to do, that’s normal. Most people in this seat have never done it before, and nobody handed them a manual. Here’s the order things usually go in, and where my team and I can help.
I’m a REALTOR®, not an attorney. This is general information, not legal or tax advice. Please talk to a California trust and estate attorney before you make decisions about the trust.
Does the house go through probate?
If your loved one put the house into a living trust, it usually does not. The California Courts say that if you are named as a beneficiary of property in a living trust, “you should be able to transfer the property to yourself without going to probate court.” As successor trustee, you take care of the house under the trust’s terms.
- The house never made it into the trust? A Heggstad petition may help. I wrote about it here: What Happens When Property Doesn’t Make It Into the Trust?
- No trust at all? That’s a different road, with a court process. See my Executors Guide and Do You Have to Probate Your Parent’s House in California?
The deadline that really can’t slip
When a living trust becomes irrevocable because the person who made it has died, the trustee must send a written notification to each beneficiary and each heir of the person who died. It’s due “not later than 60 days” after the death (California Probate Code §16061.7).
- Heirs get notice even if they get nothing. The law requires notice to each heir, not just the beneficiaries.
- The notice starts a clock. Once it’s served, a person generally has 120 days to contest the trust (Probate Code §16061.8).
This is attorney work. It’s the single easiest way to protect yourself.
Get the date-of-death value, and get it early
This is where I can be useful to you. When someone dies, the tax “cost” of the house generally resets to its fair market value on the date of death (Internal Revenue Code §1014). To support that number, you need documentation of what the home was worth on that date. An appraisal dated as close to the death as possible is the cleanest way to do it. Don’t guess, and don’t use an online estimate. Your CPA will handle the tax math.
The paperwork that can stop your sale cold
The county records usually still show the deed from when the house went into the trust, with your loved one’s name on it as trustee. Before you can sell, an Affidavit of Death of Trustee is typically recorded with the county recorder, with a certified death certificate attached. Title companies generally require it before escrow can close. Get it recorded early, when there’s no pressure on it.
The form trustees often miss
A Change in Ownership Statement, Death of Real Property Owner (form BOE-502-D), goes to the county assessor. California law says it’s due within 150 days of the death, and it covers transfers “through the medium of a trust.” When the property was held in trust, the trustee files it (Revenue and Taxation Code §480).
Keeping the house or selling it
If one of the children wants to move in and keep the parents’ lower property tax bill, Proposition 19 has a parent-child exclusion with real conditions and a dollar limit. Here in Santa Clara, San Mateo and Alameda Counties, home values have often grown far past that limit, so the tax bill can still go up. Run the real numbers with your CPA and the county assessor before you decide. I’m glad to help you figure out what the house is worth today so you have a real number to work with.
Who does what
- Your attorney handles the 60-day notice, reads the trust, tells you what authority you have, and keeps you out of trouble with the beneficiaries.
- Your CPA handles the tax basis, the capital gains math, and any tax filings.
- I handle the house: what it’s worth, what it needs, whether to sell as-is or do the work first, what to do with everything still inside it, and how to run a sale when the siblings don’t all want the same thing.
You don’t have to manage it all
You don’t have to find and manage a dozen different people. I have a full team I trust: probate attorneys, appraisers, movers, clean-out crews, an estate sale specialist, contractors, painters, repair people, and my own escrow team. I coordinate every piece, so you’re not handling all of it on top of everything else.
Read about families I’ve helped, including three out-of-state siblings whose parents’ house needed a full clean-out before it could sell.
If you’re in the middle of this right now
You don’t have to have it figured out. If you’d like to talk through where the house fits into all of it, with no pressure and no listing conversation unless you want one, call or text me.
Helen K. Burke, REALTOR® | Seller Specialist
Intero Real Estate Services | DRE #01175866
Call or text 408-835-8967 | helen@helenkburke.com
Sources: California Courts Self-Help (selfhelp.courts.ca.gov/probate/simple-transfer); California Probate Code §§16061.7, 16061.8; Revenue and Taxation Code §480; Internal Revenue Code §1014. Laws change, so confirm the details for your situation with your attorney and CPA.