A Torrance house in probate already has an official appraiser: the probate referee.

In a California probate, the inventory value of real estate comes from a referee appointed by the court, unless the court waives that step. A privately ordered appraisal can still be worth having, for other reasons. Here is how the two fit together, so the conversation with your attorney starts in the right place.

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Letters, Then Four Months to File the Inventory

Probate Code section 8800 gives the personal representative four months, counted from the first issuance of letters, to file the Inventory and Appraisal on Judicial Council form DE-160, which also has boxes for partial and supplemental inventories. On that form the representative personally values only the cash-type assets, such as money and bank accounts. Real estate and every other non-cash asset go on the list for a probate referee to appraise, the arrangement found in Probate Code sections 8901 and 8902. Form DE-147, the Judicial Council's summary of what a personal representative must do, tells the representative to have a court-appointed referee value the property unless the court waives that appointment; section 8903 is the waiver provision.

Values on the inventory are fair market values as of the date of death. Filing the inventory also brings a change of ownership statement (Revenue and Taxation Code section 480), which goes to the county recorder or assessor wherever the decedent owned real property at death. For a Torrance home, those offices are the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk and the Los Angeles County Office of the Assessor.

Main homes valued at $750,000 or less

When the decedent died on or after April 1, 2025, and the gross value of their interest in their main California home was no higher than $750,000 at death, a successor may petition for the home to pass without a full probate. The petition is Judicial Council form DE-310, under Probate Code sections 13151 through 13154. It must attach an appraisal, and the form's own instruction is that a probate referee appointed for the county performs it. The California courts' page on simpler transfers lists this threshold alongside the others.

Four Reasons a Private Appraisal May Still Help

None of these replaces the referee's figure on the inventory. Each is a question to raise with your attorney.

Basis records for heirs. Under section 1014 of the Internal Revenue Code, an heir's basis in inherited property is generally the property's fair market value when the owner died (see IRS Publication 551). A retrospective appraisal documents that number for the heirs and their tax preparer.
Pricing the house for sale. 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 the appraisal behind that figure has to be less than a year old on the hearing date (DE-265). When more than a year separates the date-of-death appraisal from the hearing, the report-of-sale form (DE-260) says a reappraisal is required; the petitioner then reports the status of the probate referee's appraisal or reappraisal: already filed, still to be filed, or waived by a court order. A private opinion can guide pricing, but the floor comes from the court's process.
A sibling buyout or a dispute. When one heir wants to keep the Torrance house, or the family disagrees about its worth, an independent appraisal gives the heirs and their lawyers one shared reference point.
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.

Which Court Handles a Torrance Estate

Probate matters in Los Angeles County belong to the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, through its Probate Division. That court's Local Rule 2.3 sends probate, trust, conservatorship and guardianship filings to the Central District. The one alternative the rule lists is the North District, which a decedent's estate may use when the decedent resided, or the petitioner resides, in that district (Chapter 2 of the local rules). The cover sheet required for every new probate case, form SCLAC PRO 010, offers two district boxes at Step 3, "Central" and "North (Antelope Valley)". Rule 2.2 lists the Torrance Courthouse on Maple Avenue among the Southwest District's session locations, and the Southwest District is not one of the probate filing districts in Rule 2.3. Your attorney confirms where the petition is filed.

What the Private Report Has to Pin Down

Effective date

The inventory and the heirs' basis both use the date of death; a sale or buyout may need today's value instead. That choice belongs to your attorney.

Clean-outs and repairs since the death

Houses in an estate may be emptied, repaired or updated before a sale. The report must still show the house in its effective-date condition, so photos, older listings and invoices matter.

Readers

List the personal representative, the attorney and any heirs or advisers who will use the report. A basis report for heirs does not stand in for the referee's inventory appraisal.

Documents That Help a Probate Request

Case status: whether probate is open, and when letters were issued.
Property and date: the Torrance address and the date of death.
Instructions: your attorney's note on the purpose and the effective date.
Then: photos, inspection reports or listings from around the date of death.
Since: repair or remodel records, and who controls access.

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; the appraiser answers any factual question about the house.

Our appraisers prepare these reports under USPAP, the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice. A court, a referee or another party decides for itself what weight to give a private report.

Fee and Delivery Estimate

Ask for a written scope, fee and delivery estimate that 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.

Tell Us About the Estate's Property

Call (424) 435-2474 or get a probate appraisal 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 with AI assistance. It explains California probate valuation in general terms; it gives no legal advice and values no property.