When an Anaheim homeowner's estate goes through a California probate, a probate referee, not a family-hired appraiser, sets the court's inventory value for the house unless the court waives the referee. Here is how that works, where Orange County hears the case, and what a private appraisal can still do.

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The inventory value and who supplies it

Probate Code section 8800 allows the personal representative four months from the first issuance of letters to file an Inventory and Appraisal. The form for it, DE-160, divides the valuation. Cash-type assets are the representative's to value: currency and bank deposits, plus life or accident insurance and retirement plan money paid to the estate in a lump sum. Everything else, which includes the house, goes on Attachment 2, and a probate referee appointed for the county appraises it (Probate Code sections 8901 and 8902).

The form titled Duties and Liabilities of Personal Representative, DE-147, is blunt about it: a court-appointed referee determines the property's value unless the court has waived that appointment. Waiving the referee requires a court order (Probate Code section 8903), and DE-160 provides a box for the order's date.

A private appraisal therefore cannot replace the referee's inventory figure; its uses lie elsewhere.

Anaheim cases go to the Costa Mesa Justice Complex

Probate in the Superior Court of California, County of Orange, is heard at the Costa Mesa Justice Complex. Anaheim's row on the court's designation list (effective June 30, 2025) sends probate there, and the court's probate page places the Probate/Mental Health clerk's office and courtrooms in the same complex.

The paperwork also reaches two county offices. Along with the inventory, DE-147 tells the representative to file a change of ownership statement for each county where the decedent held real property, sending it to that county's recorder or assessor (Revenue and Taxation Code section 480). An Anaheim house is in Orange County, so that means the Orange County Clerk-Recorder Department, which records real property transactions and keeps a North County branch office in Anaheim, or the Orange County Assessor Department.

Homes up to $750,000: the shorter petition still uses the referee

Where the death occurred on or after April 1, 2025, and the decedent's main home in California had a gross value at death of $750,000 or less, a successor may petition for a court order transferring the home without a full probate (Probate Code sections 13151 to 13154; form DE-310). The value must be shown by an attached appraisal, and DE-310 requires that appraisal from a probate referee appointed for the county. California's court self-help guide adds that the dollar limits are revised every three years, with the next change on April 1, 2028.

Jobs a private appraisal can do in a probate

A private appraisal of the house, as of the date of death or as of today, serves purposes the inventory does not. Raise each with your attorney first:

Heirs' basis records. For federal tax, section 1014 of the Internal Revenue Code generally resets an heir's basis to what the home was worth on the day the owner died. Ask your tax adviser whether the inventory figure will do for the heirs' records or whether a separate report would help; the IRS step-up page explains the date-of-death assignment.
Setting a sale price. For a private sale the court must confirm, form DE-265 has the court find that the bid reaches at least 90% of the appraised value, using an appraisal dated within a year of the hearing date; when the hearing falls more than a year after the death, form DE-260 calls for a reappraisal by the probate referee. An independent market opinion can guide the asking price, but the 90% comparison uses the appraised value on file with the court.
A buyout among heirs. If one heir keeps the house, a current independent value gives the others a common reference point.
Questions about waiving the referee. That request, and the evidence behind it, is your attorney's call.

If the house is held in a living trust and does not go through probate, ask the trustee's attorney what valuation the administration calls for. The estate appraisal page covers inherited homes more broadly.

Three questions before the work is scoped

Which date

The inventory looks at the date of death; a sale or a buyout among heirs may need today's value instead.

Its condition then

If the house has been cleared out, painted or repaired since the death, tell the appraiser what changed, with photos, invoices or an old listing.

Who reads the report

The representative, the heirs and the tax preparer may need different things from it; name them at the start.

Measuring a past date

A date-of-death appraisal is retrospective. Sales and market conditions from around that date drive the analysis, and the house is described as it was then, from a current inspection plus older records; where records are missing, the report states its assumptions.

What the look-back involves depends on the neighborhood. The City's Community Design Element says most single-family neighborhoods in West Anaheim date to the 1960s, so a later kitchen, bath or roof update may need to be separated from the house as it stood. For a home in one of the four historic districts in Central Anaheim, bring restoration records and any district documents.

Estate tax returns: your adviser's call

For a U.S. citizen or resident who dies in 2026, Form 706's instructions draw the line at $15,000,000, counting the gross estate, adjusted taxable gifts and specific exemption together. An executor who elects to pass a deceased spouse's unused exclusion to the survivor files whatever the estate's size. Schedule A asks the executor to explain how real estate values were determined and to attach any appraisals. The threshold is measured on the whole estate, so the house alone does not decide it. California has no counterpart. The State Controller's Office stopped requiring California estate tax returns for deaths from January 1, 2005 onward, and California inheritance tax is collected only where the death came before June 8, 1982. Nor does any federal inheritance tax apply. What federal law imposes instead is a tax on the transfer of the taxable estate (26 U.S.C. 2001), and section 2002 makes the executor responsible for paying it; it reaches only estates over the $15,000,000 line described above. In most cases an inheritance is not income to the heirs who receive it (IRS Publication 525), though a later sale is taxed on any gain above the date-of-death basis, which is why that value is worth documenting. Your attorney or tax adviser decides what is filed and which date governs; the appraisal supplies evidence of value.

Before you call

The address and assessor's parcel number. The Orange County Assessor Department's property-information page links to ParcelQuest for parcel data.
The date of death and, if a probate is open, the date letters issued.
Your attorney's note on what the private appraisal is for and which date to use.
The house's condition on the date of death, and the work done since.
Who holds the keys, plus any hearing at the Costa Mesa Justice Complex or a sale deadline.

From request to report

Set the scope. Tell us the property, the purpose, the date to be valued, who will rely on the report and when you need it. A written scope, fee and delivery estimate comes before anything starts.
Inspect and gather. The appraiser visits the property and goes through whatever you have that shows its condition on the effective date.
Analyze. Comparable sales and market conditions around that date are studied and reconciled into one opinion of value.
Read it through. Check the stated purpose, effective date, intended users and assumptions, and point out any factual error about the house to the appraiser.

Each report follows USPAP, the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice. That is a standard of practice; it does not oblige any court, agency or other party to accept a report.

Fees and timing

As the site's FAQ says, "Fees depend on property complexity, intended use and deadline." Ask for a written scope, fee and delivery estimate, and have the delivery date confirmed before a hearing or sale depends on it.

Tell us about the house

Send the Anaheim address, who will use the report and the date it should reflect, and we will explain what the assignment involves.

Request a probate appraisal quote · Call 714-844-1136

Written with AI assistance for Eagle Home Appraisal Anaheim from the official court forms and pages linked above. General information, not legal advice.