Trust & Estate Appraisal

An appraisal dated to the owner's death

Once a home passes to heirs, two questions in particular point back to the day the owner died rather than to today's market: the heirs' basis for a later sale, and a Proposition 19 filing with the county assessor. Other uses, such as one beneficiary buying out the others or a trustee's accounting, may call for a different date, which your attorney or trustee sets. An estate appraisal is a retrospective opinion: what this particular house was worth on the date you give us, taking its condition on that day into account.

Probate works differently. In a court-supervised estate, the county's probate referee values the house for the inventory unless the court has waived that step, and our probate appraisals page explains where a private appraisal can sit beside that.

Three questions about the date of death

Which day is being valued?

For federal basis, the default is the day of death. Internal Revenue Code section 2032 offers an alternate date six months later, but the executor can choose it only on a federal estate tax return, and only when it reduces both the gross estate and the tax. Your adviser decides which day applies.

What shape was the house in then?

According to the City of Huntington Beach's 2013-2021 Housing Element (adopted in 2020, citing 2005-2009 American Community Survey data), 76 percent of owner-occupied homes predate 1980, a legacy of the city's single-family construction in the 1960s and 1970s. A house of that age may have gained a new kitchen since the death, or may have been waiting on repairs that have since been made. Dated photographs, an old listing, inspection reports and contractor invoices tell the appraiser which version of the house to value.

Which sales are fair comparisons?

That Housing Element counts a housing stock of roughly 61 percent single-family and 35 percent multi-family homes, along with 18 mobilehome parks. A bayfront house in Huntington Harbour, a condominium near Bella Terra and a Sunset Beach property each call for comparable sales of their own type, drawn from around the effective date. City of Huntington Beach Housing Element (2020)

A city median is context, not a date-of-death value

Realtors Property Resource (RPR) reported these September 2026 figures for the Huntington Beach city boundary: a median sold price of $1,405,000 from 78 properties sold, and a median price per square foot of $758.

September 2026 · Huntington Beach, California · Single Family + Condo/Townhouse/Apt. · Source: RPR, Sold Listings, accessed October 7, 2026.

Those figures pool houses, condominiums, townhouses and apartments citywide for a single month. They cannot speak for one block, one home's upkeep or the month an owner died. A retrospective appraisal studies the actual property during the actual period. Our service area page carries the complete September figures and the limits on using them.

California rules that hinge on the date of death

Basis, and the second half of a community property home

Internal Revenue Code section 1014 generally resets an heir's basis to the home's fair market value at death. For married owners, California's place on the IRS list of community property states in Publication 551 matters: the survivor's own half of the community property is generally re-based too, so the entire property takes the date-of-death value, as long as half or more of the community interest was includible in the decedent's gross estate. That holds whether or not an estate tax return is due. Whether a given house was community property turns on its history and title, which your tax adviser should confirm. IRS Publication 551

Proposition 19, and the Orange County Assessor Department

Proposition 19 governs parent-to-child transfers made on or after February 16, 2021. If the home was the parent's principal residence and becomes the child's, the child may keep the parent's taxable value, in full or in part. BOE Publication 801 treats a parent's date of death as the transfer date. From February 16, 2025 through February 15, 2027, the ceiling is the taxable value plus $1,044,586; any market value above that ceiling is added to the taxable value. Two one-year deadlines fall on the child: moving in as a primary residence, and filing for the homeowners' exemption. The claim itself, form BOE-19-P, is due within three years of the date of death or before any transfer to a third party, whichever comes first, and goes to the assessor of the county where the home sits, which for Huntington Beach is the Orange County Assessor Department. Your tax adviser can tell you how a date-of-death value bears on the claim. BOE Publication 801

Inheritance and estate tax, state and federal

For deaths on or after June 8, 1982, California charges no inheritance tax, and for a death on or after January 1, 2005 no California estate tax return has to be filed. Both points come from the State Controller's Office, which collects inheritance tax only on deaths before June 8, 1982; voters ended the tax with Proposition 6 that year.

At the federal level there is no inheritance tax either. The federal estate tax falls on the estate, not on the heirs: the Internal Revenue Code imposes it on the transfer of the taxable estate and has the executor pay it, and it reaches only estates above the year's threshold, which is $15,000,000 for a U.S. citizen or resident who dies in 2026, once adjusted taxable gifts and specific gift tax exemption are counted. Under IRS Publication 525, heirs in most cases do not report an inheritance as income, although rent or other income the house earns afterward is taxable. What heirs do carry forward is a basis, generally the home's fair market value on the date of death; selling for more than that basis produces a taxable gain, which is why the date-of-death value matters. Your tax adviser can confirm how each point applies. California State Controller's Office: California Estate Tax · IRS: Estate Tax · IRS Publication 525

When the estate is in probate

California probate assigns the inventory appraisal of real estate to the county's probate referee (Probate Code sections 8901 and 8902), unless the court waives the referee under section 8903. Orange County hears probate at the Costa Mesa Justice Complex. An appraisal you order privately does not stand in for the referee's figure, though it can help with basis files or with planning a sale. Talk to your attorney about whether it fits.

Things to pull together

• Date of death, and whether the house sits in a trust, passes under a will or is part of a probate case
• Address, type of home and any homeowners' association information
• Photographs, listing pages or inspection reports dated near the death
• Clean-out, repair or remodeling work since then, with approximate dates
• Who will read and rely on the report: trustee, executor or administrator, beneficiaries, or a tax adviser
• What is driving your timing: a sale, a buyout, a Proposition 19 claim or a tax filing

Steps in an estate appraisal

1. Set the terms. We pin down the property, the effective date, the purpose, the report's readers and your deadline, and you get a written scope, fee and delivery estimate.
2. Record the home. The appraiser inspects as the scope calls for and works through your evidence of the home's condition on the effective date.
3. Research the period. Comparable sales and market conditions come from around the effective date, not from today's listings.
4. Go through the report. Look at the effective date, the stated use and any condition assumptions, and send the appraiser any factual questions.

Cost and schedule

Ask for a written scope, fee and delivery estimate. How far back the date reaches, what records exist and your deadline all shape it.

If the value is needed only for basis, the IRS step-up appraisals page is the closer fit; for a court-supervised estate, see probate appraisals. All services appear on our appraisal services page.

Tell us about the property

Send the Huntington Beach address, the date of death and the people who will use the report.

Ask for an estate appraisal quote · Phone 657-845-8112

The market figures cover September 2026, and the rules above are summarized in general terms. Nothing here is legal or tax advice or a value for any property.