When a home is sold through the probate system sometimes court confirmation is required, and sometimes it may not be required. The operative word here is MAY. What this means is that under the Independent Administration of Estates Act, the person in charge of settling the deceased's estate, the Personal Representative, can ask the court if he/she can have the authority to sell a property without court confirmation. Court confirmation happens when an offer is accepted by the Personal Representative and then has to go to the probate court to be approved. At that time there is an overbid process and someone else can come in and offer more money for the house.
When a probate listing says court confirmation not required or MAY not be required, what it means is that the Personal Representative was given the authority to sell the home without court confirmation and the overbid process, but it is not a done deal. If one of the heirs has an objection to the price or terms of the sale, he/she can petition the court for an overbid process. This is not common unless the Probate Referee, who is the person who estimated the value of the home, says the home is worth more than the offer for the home. So for example if a home was estimated to be worth $500,000 and the accepted offer was $400,000 and the Personal Representative can not show good reason for the 20% difference, the other heirs may want to go to court and object.
So if you are a Personal Representative on an East Palo Alto or other San Mateo County Probate home make sure the agent you chose to sell the home gives you a rock solid market analysis. If the price suggested to list is more than 10% less than the Probate Referee's opinion of value work out the discrepancies ahead of time. It will save countless hours of headaches, and lots of money by not having to go to court.
If you have any questions about selling real estate in probate in San Mateo or Santa Clara County please feel free to contact me.
Marcy Moyer
marcy@marcymoyer.com
650-619-9285
D.R.E. 01191194
Comments(0)