Probate Real Estate Agent in Laguna Beach, CA
Paula Aragone represents personal representatives selling Laguna Beach property through the Orange County probate court, where the court date is fixed and almost nothing else is, and the estate has to work backwards from a hearing to a listing rather than forwards from a listing to a hearing.
A Laguna Beach probate runs on two calendars that do not negotiate with each other. The court's is fixed: a hearing date, an examiner reviewing the petition three to four weeks before it, and statutory notice periods that cannot be compressed. The city's is not. A Real Property Report has to exist before an agreement of sale, a geologic report can be required, and in four areas of the city the Coastal Commission rather than the city issues permits. The estate plans backwards from the court.
| Who signs | The personal representative, on the authority in the Letters |
|---|---|
| Examiner review | Orange County reviews petitions three to four weeks before the hearing |
| Before any agreement of sale | The city requires a Real Property Report |
| Coastal permits | Four Areas of Deferred Certification are the Commission's, not the city's |
| Inventory deadline | Probate Code 8800, four months after letters are first issued |
| Outside target | Probate Code 12200, one year after letters, or eighteen months |
The Hearing Date Is Fixed. Nothing Else in Laguna Beach Is.
A personal representative who lists first and investigates second will meet the court's calendar with an incomplete file. In this city the front end is longer than the escrow.
The court's side is knowable in advance. Probate Code 8800 puts the inventory and appraisal at four months after letters are first issued. Orange County states the referee should return the appraisal within 60 days of appointment. Creditor claims under Probate Code 9100 are due the later of four months after letters or sixty days after notice to that creditor. Probate Code 12200 sets one year after letters for a petition for final distribution or a status report, or eighteen months where a federal estate tax return is required. And on a confirmation sale, an Orange County examiner reviews the petition three to four weeks before the hearing.
The city's side is not. Laguna Beach requires a Real Property Report prior to entering into an agreement of sale or exchange of any real property, applied for and paid through the city's online permit portal. An industry summary describes it as covering all property types with no inspection component and roughly a seven day turnaround. That figure is not published by the city, so confirm the current fee and turnaround with the Planning Division at 949-497-0713 before you rely on it.
Then there is the geology. The municipal code requires an engineering geologic report by a registered engineering geologist for subdivisions, grading, road and street work creating building sites, habitable structures, and major additions exceeding 50 percent of existing floor area. Pools, spas, smaller additions and retention devices over five feet require geologic review after excavation and before structural installation. Reports must address landslide, slump, mudflow, creep, faulting and erosion, slope stability, ground and surface water, and performance under ground saturation plus the maximum probable earthquake, assuming a minimum 50 year project life.
The permit runway is the part that changes who buys. Design review is required for any proposed improvement, commercial or residential, in three tiers: the Community Development Director for simpler projects, the Design Review Board twice monthly, and the Planning Commission twice monthly. The indicative sequence runs about 30 days of preliminary zoning review, about 30 days of planner review and completeness, about 45 days from completeness to a hearing, then a 14 day appeal period during which required staking must remain in place. Neighbours within 300 feet may appeal to the City Council, and a coastal development permit can then be appealed to the Coastal Commission within 10 business days.
Four areas inside the city limits are not covered by the Local Coastal Program certified on 13 January 1993: Irvine Cove, Blue Lagoon, Hobo Canyon and Three Arch Bay. In those Areas of Deferred Certification the California Coastal Commission, not the city, issues coastal development permits. A buyer planning work there is applying to a state agency on the Commission's calendar. That is a material timeline fact, and an estate selling in one of those four should raise it rather than let a buyer find it.
None of this changes the court's dates. It changes how early the work has to start. A representative who orders the Real Property Report at listing, has the permit history and any geologic material assembled before an offer, and knows which permitting body a buyer would be dealing with, can hold a hearing date. A representative who begins that work when escrow opens is asking the court to wait for the city, and the court does not.
How a Probate Property Sale Works in Laguna Beach
This is the personal representative's sequence, written for a city where the front end of a listing takes longer than anywhere else on this coast. Read it as a countdown rather than a checklist.
Read the Letters, then count backwards from the calendar
The Letters say full authority or limited. Probate Code 10402 grants every power under the Independent Administration of Estates Act, 10403 withholds four real property powers, and 10501(b) requires court supervision for exactly those. Limited authority means a hearing date, and a hearing date means everything else has to be finished before it, not around it.
Get the referee appointed early, because sixty days runs in parallel
The referee is appointed from the State Controller's list under Probate Code 8920, at one tenth of one percent of the value appraised plus expenses under 8961, with a 75 dollar floor and a 10,000 dollar ceiling per estate under 8963. Orange County states the appraisal should return within 60 days, and Probate Code 8800 requires the inventory and appraisal filed within four months of letters.
Make the house safe, insured and closed for the duration
Tell the insurer the property is unoccupied, because a vacant hillside house on a narrow street is not the risk the old policy was written for. Secure the decks and stairs, keep the vegetation cut back for defensible space, and arrange access for the referee, the inspectors and the geologist. The house has to hold its condition through a court calendar.
Choose the route, and order the Real Property Report before you sign anything
The city requires a Real Property Report prior to entering into an agreement of sale or exchange of any real property, applied for through its online permit portal. An industry summary puts turnaround at roughly seven days and describes no inspection component. Order it while the authority question is being settled, not after an offer arrives.
Market it to buyers who understand the permitting runway
A Laguna buyer planning to remodel is buying a queue. Design review runs through the Director, the Design Review Board or the Planning Commission, with roughly 30 days preliminary zoning review, 30 days planner review, 45 days from completeness to a hearing, and a 14 day appeal period during which staking must remain in place. Say so plainly rather than letting them discover it.
Deliver the fifteen day notice, or petition for confirmation
Under full authority, Probate Code 10586 requires the notice mailed or personally delivered not less than 15 days before the date specified. Under the court track, Probate Code 10308 governs the report of sale and petition for confirmation, and if it is not filed within 30 days the purchaser may file it. Title does not pass until confirmation.
Hold the hearing, and expect the courtroom to be open to bidders
Examiners raise their items three to four weeks before the date, which is the last moment a defect can be cured without moving the hearing. At the hearing the property is open to a higher bid under Probate Code 10311(a). The court accepts the highest qualifying offer, may decline to confirm and order a new sale, and may reject a higher bid on less favourable credit terms.
Open escrow with the geology and permit file already assembled
The buyer's lender and insurer will both ask questions the estate cannot answer quickly on a hillside parcel: slope stability, prior grading permits, retaining wall status, the decks, and the fire hazard designation adopted in June 2025. An estate that assembled that file at listing closes on the court's schedule. An estate that starts it in escrow does not.
File the accounting and distribute, or explain the delay
Probate Code 12200 requires a petition for final distribution or a status report not later than one year after letters, or eighteen months where a federal estate tax return is required. Statutory compensation under 10800 and 10810 is then computed for both the representative and the attorney on the gross value, before any encumbrance is deducted.
What Each Laguna Beach Parcel Adds to the Front End of the Calendar
Cove, canyon or ridge, each one adds a different document to the file the estate has to assemble before a hearing date is worth anything.
North Laguna, the Tree Streets
An alphabetical botanical grid from Aster through Myrtle, planned street layout, mature canopy, older cottage stock mixed with rebuilds. Old enough that the permit record rarely explains everything standing on the lot.
North Laguna coves and bluffs
Cliff Drive, Shaw's Cove, Crescent Bay, Wave Street through to McKnight Drive. Bluff front and tidepool adjacent, which puts the parcel inside the appealable coastal band and adds review time for any buyer with plans.
Boat Canyon and the north hillside
Grandview, Harold and Poplar, with High Drive climbing to Chateaux Drive, above the Pavilions corridor. Hillside grading and retaining wall history is the file the estate will be asked for first.
The Village, downtown
The city's civic and commercial core, where storybook cottages sit alongside the Festival grounds and Main Beach. The highest tourism exposure in the city, and parking and access constraints that slow every showing an estate schedules.
Woods Cove
Rocky bluff coast just south of downtown, older architecture, narrow streets, and cove access people pay for. Substandard lots and street width are ordinary here, and they belong in the description the referee is given.
Victoria Beach and Lagunita
The Pirate Tower, gated sand at Lagunita, eclectic cottage stock above. Heavy visitor traffic and parking pressure are facts of the listing period, not seasonal complaints.
Bluebird Canyon, upper and lower
Lots set deep along a winding canyon, and the neighbourhood the city's landslide history belongs to. A buyer will ask for slope stability documentation and remediation history, and the estate should have both before an offer arrives.
Arch Beach Heights and Summit Ridge
A ridgeline grid more than a thousand feet above the ocean, tight substandard streets, evacuation via Nyes Place. Access and fire exposure are the two questions that reach the insurer before the lender.
Mystic Hills and Temple Hills
Steep ground and bold contemporary architecture, with the Temple Hills Community Association active here. The 1993 firestorm hit Mystic Hills hardest of anywhere, and buyers still raise it.
Top of the World and Park Avenue Estates
Hilltop ground around Alta Laguna Park on the wilderness edge, where the TOWNA association holds Firewise USA recognition. Defensible space documentation is part of the estate's disclosure package, not an afterthought.
Laguna Canyon and the Terraces
Artist studios and residential terraces along the canyon corridor, the city's main inland access. Flood and wildlife corridor questions arrive on top of the usual hillside ones.
South Laguna Village
Residential fingers named by number and by plant, with retail at village scale. Older small lotted stock where an addition may well predate any record the family can produce.
Three Arch Bay
The southernmost gated community, with a private beach, a park and its own community services district. An Area of Deferred Certification, so the Coastal Commission issues permits here rather than the city.
Emerald Bay
A gated community of approximately 538 residences in unincorporated Orange County, the only unincorporated populated place on the county coastline, with a single PCH entrance, a tunnel, a private beach and its own fire station.
Irvine Cove
Gated, at the northern city limit against Crystal Cove State Park, and one of the four Areas of Deferred Certification. Coastal permits come from the Commission, which lengthens any buyer's plans.
Smithcliffs
A small gated bluff enclave on the ocean, immediately south of Emerald Bay. Bluff position means the geologic and setback questions arrive with the first serious buyer rather than the last.
Blue Lagoon and Hobo Canyon
Both Areas of Deferred Certification, so the Coastal Commission rather than the city issues coastal development permits. An estate selling here should establish that before marketing rather than during escrow.
The Montage district
Portafina and the estates beside the resort in South Laguna, together with Camel Point and the South Laguna bluffs. Bluff top parcels where setback analysis is a standard buyer request.
Six Ways a Laguna Beach Probate Loses Its Hearing Date
Laguna Beach, California
None of these are surprises. Each one is a known city requirement that was started after the listing instead of before it.
The Real Property Report was ordered after the offer
The city requires the report prior to entering into an agreement of sale or exchange of any real property, and applications and payment go through its online permit portal. An industry summary puts turnaround at roughly seven days with no inspection component, though the city itself does not publish the figure.
Ordered at listing it costs nothing in calendar time. Ordered after an offer, on an estate already working toward a confirmation hearing, it sits directly in front of everything else. Confirm the current fee and turnaround with the Planning Division at 949-497-0713.
Four areas where the Commission issues the permit, not the city
Irvine Cove, Blue Lagoon, Hobo Canyon and Three Arch Bay are Areas of Deferred Certification, outside the Local Coastal Program certified on 13 January 1993. In those four the California Coastal Commission issues coastal development permits, not Laguna Beach.
For a buyer intending to remodel, that is a different agency and a different calendar. An estate that discovers it during escrow has already priced and marketed the property on an assumption that was never true.
The geologic report the estate does not have
The municipal code requires an engineering geologic report by a registered engineering geologist for habitable structures, grading, and major additions exceeding 50 percent of existing floor area, and geologic review after excavation for pools, spas, smaller additions and retention devices over five feet. Reports must address landslide, slump, mudflow, creep, faulting, erosion, slope stability, and performance under ground saturation with the maximum probable earthquake, assuming a minimum 50 year project life.
Bluebird Canyon slid on 2 October 1978 and again on 1 June 2005, the second time destroying homes. Buyers know it. On any hillside parcel expect a request for soils and slope stability work, prior grading permits and evidence of remediation, and expect the request to arrive at the worst moment in a court timetable.
The permit record cannot explain what is standing there
Roughly 69.3 percent of the city's housing predates 1980 and the largest single cohort, 20.2 percent, was built in 1939 or earlier. Substandard lots and an intensive design review regime make this the city where a past addition is most likely to have been done quietly.
The route is the city's public permit portal for permit, plan and inspection history, the scanned property file in OnBase, and Laserfiche for other city records, searching by address with an asterisk for the street type or by APN. Do that work before a buyer's inspector raises it.
The buyer's insurance quote sets the closing date
The City Council adopted the updated CAL FIRE Local Responsibility Area maps on 24 June 2025, covering Moderate, High and Very High classifications. Laguna Beach runs its own fire department and is not an Orange County Fire Authority city, so defensible space inspections and AB 38 documentation go through the city's Fire Marshal at 949-397-0352.
Canyon and ridge fuel, narrow substandard streets and limited evacuation capacity make insurance the practical constraint a buyer raises first, with the FAIR Plan as a realistic fallback. CAL FIRE states the hazard maps do not themselves set insurance rates or availability, which is a distinction worth making to a family that assumes the two are the same thing.
Something recorded against the property nobody mentioned
Historic register listing is voluntary and requires the owner's agreement, but once registered the Heritage Committee reviews alterations and a preservation agreement is recorded with the county, binding subsequent owners. New Mills Act applications are temporarily suspended.
Utility undergrounding assessment districts formed under Rule 20B run four to six years and appear on the tax bill. Check title and the tax bill for both before the property is marketed, because either one changes what a buyer can do and what they will pay to find out.
Notice of Proposed Action, or a Date on the Costa Mesa Calendar
The Letters usually settle which route applies. What the family chooses is how early the city work starts, and that decision is worth more here than in any of the neighbouring cities.
Selling under full authority
Probate Code 10402 gives a representative with full authority all of the powers the Independent Administration of Estates Act confers, and Probate Code 10503 states that the requirements applicable to court confirmation of sales of real property do not apply to the sale. No confirmation hearing, no 90 percent appraisal floor, no bid from the courtroom floor. In Laguna Beach that removes the one deadline the estate cannot move, which is why full authority is worth asking the estate's attorney about early.
The notice replaces the hearing. Probate Code 10580 to 10592 govern it, and 10586 requires it mailed or personally delivered not less than 15 days before the date specified in the notice. Probate Code 10581 sets the recipients: each known devisee whose interest would be affected, each known heir whose interest would be affected, anyone who has filed a request for special notice, and the Attorney General where the state's interest is affected.
Those fifteen days can be removed by agreement, because 10582 excuses notice to anyone who consents in writing and 10583 permits a written waiver. The honest risk is the other side of the same section. Under Probate Code 10587 any recipient may object by delivering or mailing a written objection before the date specified or before the action is taken, whichever is later, and the representative then has to go to the court anyway, usually with a buyer already committed and already spending.
The trap specific to this city is assuming that full authority makes the front end faster. It does not. The Real Property Report still has to exist before an agreement of sale, the geologic material still takes as long as a geologist takes, and a buyer in Three Arch Bay or Irvine Cove is still applying to the Coastal Commission. Full authority shortens the back end, which means the front end has to be finished sooner, not later.
Selling with court confirmation
Where the Letters grant limited authority under Probate Code 10403, four powers are withheld and every one of them is a real property power, with Probate Code 10501(b) requiring court supervision for exactly those. The sale begins with the referee's appraisal under Probate Code 8920, at one tenth of one percent of the value appraised plus expenses under 8961, with a floor of 75 dollars and a ceiling of 10,000 dollars per estate under 8963, and Orange County states it should return within 60 days.
After acceptance the representative files a report of sale and a petition for confirmation under Probate Code 10308, and if it is not filed within 30 days the purchaser may file it. Title does not pass until the court confirms. Probate Code 10309(a) permits confirmation of a private sale only where the property was appraised within one year prior to the confirmation hearing, the valuation date is within that year, and the sum offered is at least 90 percent of the appraised value.
At the hearing the price is open. Probate Code 10311(a) requires the higher offer to be at least 10 percent more on the first ten thousand dollars of the original bid and 5 percent more on the amount of the original bid in excess of ten thousand dollars. On a 1,000,000 dollar accepted bid that is 1,000,000 plus 1,000 plus 49,500, a minimum first overbid of 1,050,500 dollars. The court accepts the highest qualifying offer, may decline to confirm and order a new sale, and may reject a higher bid made on less favourable credit terms, with commissions excluded from the computation.
For the estate the overbid is upside. For a Laguna Beach buyer it is often the reason not to participate at all. Diligence here is expensive and slow: a geologic opinion, a permit history reconstruction, an insurance quote that may take weeks, and a design review runway before any remodel begins. A buyer who has paid for all of that is being asked to attend a hearing where a stranger can take the property with a 5 percent increment and none of the work. Fewer of them bid, and the ones who do build the risk into their number. The estate should decide with its eyes open, and it should decide before the sign goes up.
The Court Sets the Date. Somebody Has to Work Backwards From It.
Paula Aragone has worked Orange County transactions for 23 years, across 900+ transactions and $900M+ sold, and she came to real estate after four years of law school. That is why probate attorneys refer court supervised files here: the statutory sequence, the examiner's review and the mechanics of a confirmation hearing do not have to be explained, so the attorney's time goes into the petition rather than into the listing.
She holds the CPRES designation, Certified Probate Real Estate Specialist, and the SRES designation, Seniors Real Estate Specialist. On a court confirmation sale CPRES means a specific way of working. Marketing continues after acceptance, because the property remains open to a bid in the courtroom. The purchase agreement has to explain the hearing to the buyer in advance. And the file has to be in a condition that survives an Orange County examiner three to four weeks before the date, because that is the last point at which a defect can be cured without losing the hearing.
The representative's protection is the record. Beneficiaries rarely take issue with a price that was openly marketed and documented. They take issue with a sale that looks arranged, an appraisal nobody can reconstruct, or a delay nobody can account for. A complete description to the referee, a written log of every offer, and a file that answers the examiner's likely questions are what stand up, and they are the same materials that keep a hearing date.
In Laguna Beach the additional work is the front end: the Real Property Report before any agreement of sale, the permit history from the city's portal and OnBase file, the geologic material on a hillside parcel, the insurance question, and knowing whether the parcel is one of the four Areas of Deferred Certification where the Coastal Commission issues the permit. The honest part is that none of this guarantees a smooth hearing. Examiners raise items, geologists take the time they take, and buyers withdraw. What it does is make sure the delay is never the estate's own file.
Laguna Beach Probate Sales, Answered
The questions personal representatives ask when the court has given them a date and the city has not, answered for California law and for Laguna Beach specifically.
How do we work out whether a probate is required?
The date of death decides, not the filing date. For deaths on or after 1 April 2025 the affidavit for personal property under Probate Code 13100 and 13101 reaches 208,850 dollars, the petition to determine succession to real property under 13151 to 13154 reaches 750,000 dollars but only for the decedent's California primary residence under AB 2016, and the affidavit for real property of small value under 13200 reaches 69,625 dollars. Those figures hold through 31 March 2028.
Does the estate need a Real Property Report before the confirmation hearing?
It needs one before entering into an agreement of sale, which comes earlier. The city requires a Real Property Report prior to entering into an agreement of sale or exchange of any real property, applied for and paid through its online permit portal. An industry summary describes it as applying to all property types with no inspection component and roughly a seven day turnaround, but the city does not publish those details, so confirm the current fee and timing with the Planning Division at 949-497-0713 before you build a calendar around it.
Does an Area of Deferred Certification change how much time the estate should allow?
For the sale itself, no. For the buyer, substantially. The Local Coastal Program certified on 13 January 1993 does not cover Irvine Cove, Blue Lagoon, Hobo Canyon or Three Arch Bay, so in those four the California Coastal Commission rather than the city issues coastal development permits. A buyer planning work there is on a state agency's calendar. That is a material fact to disclose in marketing, because a buyer who learns it in escrow is a buyer who renegotiates or leaves.
Will the court require a geologic report before it confirms?
The court's requirements are the ones in the Probate Code, and an engineering geologic report is not among them. The city's requirements are separate: the municipal code requires a report by a registered engineering geologist for habitable structures, grading, and major additions exceeding 50 percent of existing floor area, with geologic review after excavation for pools, spas, smaller additions and retention devices over five feet. The practical answer is that the buyer will ask, and an estate without an answer loses time it planned to spend elsewhere.
Buyers keep raising Bluebird Canyon. What goes in the file?
The landslide history is public and buyers find it: 2 October 1978, and again on 1 June 2005, the second event destroying homes. On any hillside parcel assemble what you can before listing. Prior grading permits, any soils or slope stability work the family has, evidence of remediation, and the parcel's status on the California Geological Survey Earthquake Zones of Required Investigation viewer. Answering the question is faster than discovering it during a confirmation escrow.
The house is a grandfathered short term rental. Does that survive a probate sale?
Short term lodging is prohibited in the R-1, R-2 and R-3 residential districts. Units predating the ban are grandfathered as legal nonconforming uses, and the nonconforming right runs with the land rather than with the owner, so it transfers with the property. If the estate has one, pull the paperwork that proves it, because a documented transferable status is a real attribute and an undocumented claim is a disclosure problem. New short term lodging is permitted only in specified commercial and mixed use districts, by permit, under a citywide cap of 300 units.
How does design review affect who bids at a confirmation sale?
Design review applies to any proposed improvement, commercial or residential, in three tiers: the Community Development Director, the Design Review Board twice monthly, and the Planning Commission twice monthly. The indicative runway is about 30 days of preliminary zoning review, about 30 days of planner review, about 45 days from completeness to a hearing, then a 14 day appeal period with staking in place, and a coastal permit can then be appealed to the Commission within 10 business days. A buyer who intends to remodel is buying that queue, and pricing accordingly.
The property is in Emerald Bay, which is unincorporated. Is it still an Orange County probate?
Yes. Probate jurisdiction follows the decedent, not the city limits, and the case is heard at the Costa Mesa Justice Complex either way. What changes is which agency regulates the property. Emerald Bay is unincorporated Orange County, the only unincorporated populated place on the county coastline, a gated community of approximately 538 residences with a single Pacific Coast Highway entrance, a private beach, its own fire station and a community services district alongside the association. Establish which body issues what before marketing.
Insurance is holding up the buyer. Can we still make the hearing?
Sometimes, and it is worth planning for. The Council adopted the updated CAL FIRE Local Responsibility Area maps on 24 June 2025, and the city runs its own fire department rather than the Orange County Fire Authority, so defensible space inspections and AB 38 documentation go through the city Fire Marshal at 949-397-0352. Canyon fuel, narrow streets and limited evacuation capacity make insurance the first constraint buyers hit, with the FAIR Plan a realistic fallback. Have the defensible space documentation ready before an offer, not after one.
Which four powers does limited authority hold back?
Probate Code 10402 grants a representative with full authority all powers under the Independent Administration of Estates Act. Probate Code 10403 withholds four: sell real property, exchange real property, grant an option to purchase real property, and borrow money secured by an encumbrance on real property. Probate Code 10501(b) requires court supervision for exactly those four. Full authority triggers Probate Code 10503, which removes the court confirmation requirements from the sale, subject only to the Notice of Proposed Action.
Who receives a Notice of Proposed Action, and how much notice is required?
Probate Code 10586 requires it mailed or personally delivered not less than 15 days before the date specified in the notice. Probate Code 10581 lists the recipients: each known devisee whose interest would be affected, each known heir whose interest would be affected, anyone who has filed a request for special notice, and the Attorney General where the state's interest is affected. Under 10582 it is not required for a person who consents in writing, and 10583 allows a written waiver, so consents collected before listing remove fifteen days from the timetable.
Can a beneficiary object, and what happens if one does?
Yes. Probate Code 10587 allows a person entitled to notice to object by delivering or mailing a written objection before the date specified in the notice, or before the action is taken, whichever is later. The representative then has to obtain a court order rather than proceeding on the notice alone. In practice that means finding a hearing date on the Orange County calendar with a buyer already committed, which is exactly the situation written consents under 10582 are meant to avoid.
What is the 90 percent rule, and what is it measured against?
Probate Code 10309(a) allows the court to confirm a private sale only where the property was appraised within one year prior to the confirmation hearing, the valuation date is within that year, and the sum offered is at least 90 percent of the appraised value. It is measured against the probate referee's appraisal, not against any listing figure. If the referee's number sits above what a buyer will pay for a hillside house with an unresolved geologic question, no confirmable offer exists and the estate needs a new appraisal or a new marketing period.
How is the overbid calculated, and is it the same baseline as the 90 percent floor?
It is not the same baseline, and that is the point most often confused. The overbid under Probate Code 10311(a) must be at least 10 percent more on the first ten thousand dollars of the original bid and 5 percent more on the amount above ten thousand dollars, measured against the accepted bid. On a 1,000,000 dollar accepted bid the minimum first overbid is 1,050,500 dollars. The 90 percent floor in 10309(a) is measured against the referee's appraised value. Two numbers, two jobs.
Which court hears this, and what timeline is realistic?
Orange County probate is heard at the Costa Mesa Justice Complex, 3390 Harbor Blvd., Costa Mesa, CA 92626. The probate assistance line is 657-622-8452 and case information is available through the probate case access portal at probatepublic.occourts.org. Examiners review petitions three to four weeks before the hearing. On duration, no official source publishes a typical figure. Probate Code 12200 contemplates one year after letters as the normal outside target, or eighteen months where a federal estate tax return is required, and a California probate rarely closes in under four to six months.
What do the representative and the attorney get paid out of the estate?
Probate Code 10800 and 10810 set identical tiers and both are payable: 4 percent of the first 100,000 dollars, 3 percent of the next 100,000 dollars, 2 percent of the next 800,000 dollars, 1 percent of the next 9,000,000 dollars, 0.5 percent of the next 15,000,000 dollars, and above 25,000,000 dollars a reasonable amount set by the court. The base is the gross inventory value plus gains and receipts, without reference to encumbrances, so a 2,000,000 dollar property with a 1,500,000 dollar loan counts at 2,000,000. On a 2,000,000 dollar gross estate that is 33,000 dollars each, 66,000 dollars combined, plus extraordinary fees.
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Work the Calendar Backwards Before You List
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If you are the personal representative of an estate holding a Laguna Beach property, the first conversation is about the authority you hold and what the city requires before an agreement of sale exists. Call or text, or let the attorney handling the estate reach out instead.
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Paula Aragone, California DRE 01364746. Aragone & Associates is a team at First Team Real Estate, California DRE 01008773. Information is deemed reliable but not guaranteed. This page is general information about California real estate practice and is not legal, tax or financial advice.
Aragone & Associates Real Estate Group, 4 Corporate Plaza Dr #100, Newport Beach, CA 92660. Paula Aragone, California DRE 01364746. Brokerage: First Team Real Estate, California DRE 01008773. Equal Housing Opportunity. Nothing on this page is legal, tax or financial advice, and no attorney client relationship is created by contacting this office. Consult your attorney, your accountant and your county assessor before acting on any statement here. Information is deemed reliable but not guaranteed and is subject to change without notice.