Inherited a Home in Walnut Creek? What to Do First, Whether It’s in a Trust or Probate

**1. Start with the grant deed.**The recorded deed shows who owns the home. A title representative can pull it in a day, and it tells you which path you are on. If the home is in a trust, the successor trustee signs. If it is in the decedent’s name, you are looking at probate or another court petition. Sometimes a trust exists but the home was never transferred into it. That is a question for an estate attorney, who may be able to fix it with a court petition rather than full probate.**2. If the home is in a trust.**The successor trustee has the authority to sell, not the heirs as a group. Title and escrow will ask for a certification of trust, often the full trust, and signatures from every current co-trustee. Expect a recorded affidavit of the trustee’s death and a death certificate. Once the paperwork is in order, most trust sales run much like a normal sale, which is why getting it in order early matters.**3. If the home goes through probate.**Probate has three broad phases:

opening the estate and appointing the executor or administrator
managing and selling assets
closing the estate with a final distribution

The home cannot be listed until Letters are issued, so the first phase sets the pace. Most sales go through under full authority, which works much like a normal sale. Under limited authority, the court must confirm the sale, and other buyers can overbid in the courtroom. Your attorney will tell you which applies.**4. Don’t rush the cleanout or the repairs.**Families often feel pressure to empty the house and fix it up straight away. Hold off until you have a plan. Some items need to be inventoried or appraised first, and some repairs are not worth doing on an estate sale. With a background in construction cost management, I separate the work that returns more than it costs from the work buyers will simply discount. Often the right answer is a deep clean, paint, and fixing what an inspector will flag, then selling.**5. Coordination is most of the job.**A probate or trust sale can involve an attorney, title, escrow, sometimes a probate referee, a cleanout crew, contractors, and several heirs who may live in different states. My background is managing large projects for Fortune 500 companies, and that is what these sales need: one person keeping the documents, vendors and timeline moving, and keeping every heir informed through the executor or trustee.**6. Raise taxes and timing with your CPA early.**Inherited property often receives a step-up in tax basis. Proposition 19 changed how property tax transfers work for children who want to keep a parent’s home. Both can change whether selling now or later makes more sense. I’m not a tax advisor, so I flag these questions early and bring your CPA in before decisions are locked.**7. Know when the money arrives.**Commission and closing costs are paid from the sale at closing. In probate, heirs usually receive their share only after the court approves the final distribution, which can come months after the house closes. Setting that expectation early avoids a lot of family friction.**Where to start**Call before you list, clean out, or sign anything. A short conversation about title, timing and condition will save weeks later. I’m a Certified Probate & Trust Specialist (C.A.R.), and I work alongside your attorney rather than in place of them.*This article is general information, not legal or tax advice. Your attorney and CPA decide the legal and tax questions.**Steven Potts is a REALTOR® and real estate advisor with Compass focused on Walnut Creek, Lamorinda and Pleasant Hill. DRE #02215986.*