Does This House Need Probate? Start With How Title Was Held

When a parent or loved one dies, one of the first questions families ask is whether the house has to go through probate, the court process that transfers what a person owned when there is no other way to do it. The most useful document for answering that question is the most recent recorded deed, because it shows exactly how the owner held title.

Many Los Feliz homes have been in the same hands for decades, and the family may not remember how the deed was written, or whether it was ever changed. That is normal. A title company can usually pull the recorded deed quickly, and it is the first thing we look at on any new estate. Our process page explains this step as finding out how the home was held.

Depending on the deed and the family's situation, a home can often pass without a full probate when it was held:

• In a living trust. The trust owns the home, and the successor trustee named in the trust takes over without a court.
• In joint tenancy, with a surviving owner. The home passes to the surviving joint owner, usually by recording a document with the death certificate.
• As community property with right of survivorship. The home passes to the surviving spouse or registered domestic partner.
• As community property, or left to a spouse by will. A surviving spouse or registered domestic partner can often use a shorter court process called a spousal property petition.
• With a valid, recorded transfer-on-death deed. When the deed meets the legal requirements, the named beneficiary generally receives the home without probate.
• As part of a small estate. Estates below a value set by statute may use simplified procedures instead.

A home held in one person's name alone, with no trust and no transfer-on-death deed, usually needs probate. So does a home held in joint tenancy or with right of survivorship once the last surviving owner has died.

For someone who lived in Los Feliz, the probate is filed in Los Angeles County. The court appoints a personal representative, an executor if the will names one or an administrator if there is no will, and issues a document called Letters. Until then, no one has legal authority to sign a listing agreement, even the person the will names. A full probate commonly takes about a year or longer, though a home can often be sold well before the estate itself closes.

Some homes do not fit neatly into one box. A common one: the owner created a living trust, but the house was never deeded into it, or was taken out of the trust for a refinance and never put back. In that situation, a court petition, often called a Heggstad petition, may confirm the home belongs to the trust, which can avoid a full probate.

Another: a home held as plain community property, where the surviving spouse wants to sell. The spousal property petition mentioned above is often the path. These are legal judgments, and the estate's attorney decides which route fits. What we can do is get the deed and related documents in front of the attorney quickly so that decision comes sooner.

How title was held decides three things about selling the house:

• Who signs. The successor trustee in a trust, or the court-appointed personal representative in a probate.
• When you can start. A trust sale can begin when the trustee is ready. A probate sale waits for Letters.
• How it closes. A trust sale closes much like a regular sale. A probate sale follows either a 15-day notice to the heirs or a court confirmation hearing, depending on whether the court granted full or limited authority.

There is a privacy difference too. Probate filings are public court records, while trust administration generally is not filed with a court.

You do not need to solve any of this alone or all at once. The first step is small: find out how the home was held. From there, the estate's attorney can tell you which legal path applies, and at Rooster Homes we plan the sale around that path, working alongside the attorney. Brandon S. Arlington holds the Certified Probate & Trust Specialist designation, and this is the part of the work we start with on every estate.

If you are sorting out a Los Feliz home after a loss and are not sure where it stands, we are glad to help you take that first step. Start a confidential conversation, with no pressure and nothing to sign.