California Partition Law Blog
An Assembly bill applying to decedents’ estates was finalized on August 29, 2024. The bill will amend six sections of the Probate Code (Cal. Prob. Code § 13100-13101, 13150-13152, 13154) and repeal one section (Prob. Code § 13158). This is significant because it impacts how successors of decedents can manage a decedent’s real property.
Specifically, this means real property in estates valued over $750,000, or that was not the primary residence, can no longer take advantage of this expedited process.
Generally, it takes a long time for an estate to go through probate, so this section of the code is meant to facilitate the distribution and disposal of certain types of property in the estate. Normally an estate goes through administration proceedings and to state a claim as a beneficiary that person needs to file a petition. (Prob. Code § 11700-11701.) The petitioning person has to notify the other settled heirs and beneficiaries who can fight the petition. (Prob. Code § 1220.) Because of these lengthy and expensive disputes, estates under a certain value were made exempt from the estate administration process. (Bucholtz v. Belshe (9th Cir. 1997) 114 F.3d 923, 927.) Currently, sections of the Probate Code allow property in an estate under a certain value to be disposed of by a successor. Once this new bill is enacted it will limit the exemption to which the property applies.
The purpose of this article is to explain the ownership presumption in a probate dispute. This is because property ownership can cause disputes even after death, which must be resolved in the probate or civil courts. (Schlyen v. Schlyen (1954) 43 Cal.2d 361, 370–371.) Specifically, the understanding of how marriage affects ownership presumptions in probate matters was changed in the 2021 case Estate of Wall (Wall). ((2021) 68 Cal.App.5th 168.) This case affects how trial and probate courts will consider ownership disputes. Because this specific case dealt with a probate action, it concerns the property and assets of a decedent. In Wall the court held that the title presumption prevails over the community property presumption.
An order determining succession to real property is an alternative petition to get a court order transferring the property. (Prob. Code § 13154.) If the estate is small enough, and a successor to the decedent has proof that they are entitled to a certain piece of property, then they may use this process to become a title owner.