Torrance · Los Angeles County
Probate Appraisals for Torrance Homes
In a California probate, the court’s probate referee values the house for the inventory. A private appraisal is for you: to document the heirs’ tax basis, price a sale, or settle a buyout or dispute.
We prepare it from our Hawthorne Blvd office in Torrance, for the personal representative or the estate’s attorney.
For personal representatives, probate attorneys and heirs.
Questions a personal representative asks
This page explains California probate valuation in general terms. It is not legal advice, and your attorney decides what your case needs.
Who values the house for the court?
A probate referee appointed by the court, unless the court waives that step.
On the Inventory and Appraisal, form DE-160, the representative values only cash-type assets; real estate goes to the referee (Probate Code sections 8901 and 8902). Form DE-147 says the same, and section 8903 is the waiver provision.
When is the inventory due, and what value goes on it?
Within four months of the first letters, at fair market value on the date of death.
Probate Code section 8800 sets the four months for filing DE-160; the form also has boxes for partial and supplemental inventories. Filing it brings a change of ownership statement (Revenue and Taxation Code section 480) to the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk and the Los Angeles County Office of the Assessor.
What if the decedent’s main home was worth $750,000 or less?
It may pass without a full probate, but the petition still needs a referee’s appraisal.
When the decedent died on or after April 1, 2025, and their interest in their main California home was no higher than $750,000 at death, a successor may petition on Judicial Council form DE-310, under Probate Code sections 13151 through 13154. The form says a probate referee appointed for the county performs the attached appraisal. The courts’ page on simpler transfers lists this threshold with the others.
Then why order a private appraisal?
None of these replaces the referee’s figure on the inventory; each is a question for your attorney.
- Basis records for heirs. Under section 1014 of the Internal Revenue Code, an heir’s basis is generally fair market value at death (see IRS Publication 551). A retrospective appraisal documents that number for the heirs and their tax preparer.
- A sibling buyout or a dispute. An independent appraisal gives the heirs and their lawyers one shared reference point.
- Pricing the house for sale. See the next question.
- A possible referee waiver. If your attorney is considering a petition under section 8903, ask what evidence of value would take the referee’s place.
Can a private appraisal set the price if the court must confirm the sale?
It can guide pricing, but the floor comes from the court’s process.
If the court must confirm a sale, its order finds that the private-sale bid reaches at least 90 percent of the appraised value, and that appraisal must be less than a year old on the hearing date (DE-265). Past a year, the report-of-sale form (DE-260) says a reappraisal is required, and the petitioner reports whether the referee’s appraisal is filed, still to be filed, or waived by court order.
Which court handles a Torrance estate?
The Los Angeles County Superior Court, Probate Division, usually in the Central District; your attorney confirms where to file.
Local Rule 2.3 sends probate filings to the Central District, with the North District as the one alternative, when the decedent or petitioner resides there (Chapter 2 of the local rules). Rule 2.2 lists the Torrance Courthouse on Maple Avenue among the Southwest District’s session locations, but the Southwest District is not a probate filing district under Rule 2.3. Every new case needs the cover sheet, form SCLAC PRO 010.
What the private report has to pin down
Effective date
The inventory and the heirs’ basis use the date of death; a sale or buyout may need today’s value. Your attorney chooses.
Clean-outs and repairs since the death
The report must show the house as it was on the effective date, so photos, older listings and invoices matter.
Who will read it
List the personal representative, the attorney and any heirs or advisers who will use it. A basis report does not stand in for the referee’s inventory appraisal.
From first call to finished report
- Purpose before price. We learn what the report is for, who reads it and which date it carries, then send a written scope, fee and delivery estimate.
- Inspection with records. The appraiser visits, then reconciles today’s house with your evidence of how it looked on the effective date.
- Period sales. Sales from around the effective date are analyzed, and the report shows how they support the conclusion.
- Final read-through. Check the effective date, use, users, assumptions and limiting conditions.
Our appraisers prepare these reports under USPAP, the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice. A court, a referee or another party decides what weight to give a private report.
Fee and delivery estimate
Ask for a written scope, fee and delivery estimate. It reflects the effective date, the property’s size and condition, the records available and any hearing on the calendar; if the hearing is close, read our rush appraisals page.
Call (424) 435-2474 or request a quote with the Torrance address, the date of death and your attorney’s instructions. If the home passes outside probate, the estate appraisals page covers that route.
Eagle Home Appraisal Torrance prepared this page. It explains California probate valuation in general terms; it gives no legal advice and values no property.