Fresno Inheritance Guide › Checklist
The inherited-house checklist, Fresno County.
Five lists, in the order they come up. Print it, tape it to the refrigerator, cross things off. Written by Casa Fresco Group, a buyer of houses, not a law firm; your attorney and tax advisor confirm what applies to you.
Two pages, black and white.
1. The first two weeks
- Order certified copies of the death certificate, ten or so, through the funeral home or Fresno County Vital Records. Every bank, the assessor, the insurer and the title company will each want one.
- Find the trust, the will and the deed. Ask the attorney who drew them, then the safe deposit box, then the filing cabinet. The deed is also on file with the Fresno County Recorder.
- Secure the house. If you have authority and nobody lives there, change the locks. If a tenant or a relative lives there, do not; their rights continue, and the rent now belongs to the estate.
- Tell the insurer the owner has died and the house is empty. Ask in writing what the policy covers while it sits, and for how long.
- Photograph every room, the garage and the yard before anyone removes anything.
- Forward the mail at the post office. The bills, the bank statements and the tax notices tell you what the estate owns and owes.
- Keep paying the utilities, the mortgage and the property tax from the estate’s money. None of them pause.
- Find the most recent property tax bill and mortgage statement. The tax bill has the parcel number everything else refers to.
2. The paperwork
Which of these apply depends on how the house was held. Your attorney says which.
- Send the Fresno County Assessor the Change in Ownership Statement, Death of Real Property Owner (BOE-502-D), within 150 days of the death, with a copy of the death certificate.
- If a child is moving in: file the parent-child claim (BOE-19-P) and the homeowners’ exemption (BOE-266) with the assessor within one year. Why the year matters.
- Trust: the successor trustee records an affidavit of death of trustee against the house, with a death certificate, and gets a certification of trust to show banks and title.
- Joint tenancy or community property with right of survivorship: the survivor records an affidavit of death with a death certificate. Title then shows one owner.
- Will, or no will: a probate petition in Fresno County Superior Court, a published notice, a hearing, and Letters from the court naming the executor or administrator. Ask the attorney whether the estate qualifies for the shorter petition for a primary residence worth up to $750,000.
- Mortgage: tell the servicer in writing, with the death certificate and proof of who you are. Federal law lets a relative who inherits keep the loan in place and keep paying it. A reverse mortgage is different: it comes due at the death, and the servicer usually allows six months, with extensions, to sell or refinance.
- Get a tax identification number for the estate or the trust, and open a bank account in its name. Estate money and family money stay separate.
3. The house while it sits
- Insurance: many policies stop covering a house that has been empty 30 to 60 days. Ask for a vacancy endorsement or a vacant-home policy.
- Water on if there is a lawn or trees; gas off if nobody is there; heat low in winter. Have someone check the house every week or two.
- Yard and junk: the City of Fresno cites for tall weeds, trash and inoperable vehicles, and the fines attach to the property. Keep the front presentable.
- A vacant house gets noticed. Lights on a timer, mail picked up, the neighbor’s phone number, and the copper not advertised.
- A tenant living there: collect the rent for the estate, keep the lease, and do not ask them to leave on your own. California requires notice and, if it comes to it, the court.
- A relative living there: decide early, as a family, what is going to happen and when. It affects the sale, the price and everyone’s patience.
- The contents: the will or trust may name who gets what. Nothing of value leaves the house until that is settled. A buyer like us can take the rest after closing.
4. Taxes and money
- Property tax: the two installments are late after December 10 and April 10. The county charges a penalty the day after, whether or not the owner is alive.
- Expect a supplemental tax bill months after the death if the house was reassessed. It is separate from the regular bills.
- Order a date-of-death appraisal from a licensed appraiser. It sets the tax basis for the sale and gives the fiduciary a defensible value.
- File the final income tax returns for the person who died, and a return for the estate or trust if it earned income, such as rent, after the death.
- California has no estate or inheritance tax. The federal estate tax reaches only very large estates. Ask the tax advisor, not the internet, if there is any doubt.
- If your parent received Medi-Cal after age 55, the state may send a claim against the estate. Since 2017 it reaches only estates that go through probate; a house that passes by trust or survivorship is generally outside it. The attorney confirms.
5. Before selling
- Get an independent opinion of value, an appraisal or a broker’s opinion from someone who is not buying. Executors and trustees owe the heirs a fair price, and this is how they show it.
- Decide, as a family, between listing the house after clearing and repairs, and selling it directly as it sits. Both are honest. The difference, in our words.
- Order a preliminary title report. It shows old deeds of trust that were never reconveyed, liens, easements and anything else that has to be cleared before closing.
- Probate with full authority: the executor sends the heirs a Notice of Proposed Action and waits fifteen days. With limited authority: the sale is confirmed at a hearing where others can overbid. Build that into the timing.
- Creditors: in a probate, creditors have four months from Letters to file claims. The sale can close before that; the money waits in the estate account.
- Signers who live far away sign with a mobile notary wherever they are. Nobody has to fly to Fresno to close.
- After closing, the estate or trust distributes the proceeds as the will or trust says, keeps the records, and the fiduciary files the final accounting.
The offices
Hours and forms change; check each office’s site before you drive.
- Fresno County Assessor-Recorder
- Hall of Records, 2281 Tulare Street, Fresno 93721. The death-of-owner statement, the Prop 19 claims, the deed, and recording affidavits of death. fresnocountyca.gov
- Fresno County Tax Collector
- Same building. Property tax installments and supplemental bills. fresnocountyca.gov
- Fresno County Superior Court, Probate
- B.F. Sisk Courthouse, 1130 O Street, Fresno 93721. Petitions, hearings, Letters, and a self-help center. fresno.courts.ca.gov
- City of Fresno Code Enforcement
- Weeds, junk, vacant-house complaints. fresno.gov
- California State Board of Equalization
- The Prop 19 forms and the rules behind them. boe.ca.gov