Continuances: When the Hearing Moves and the Buyer Must Wait

A continuance moves a probate confirmation hearing to a later date on the court's calendar. California Probate Code section 1045 lets the court continue or postpone any hearing, from time to time, in the interest of justice, and on the confirmation track title cannot pass until the court confirms the sale, so the buyer has to wait for the new date. Hearings move for reasons such as incomplete notice, missing paperwork, an objection or an appraisal that has gone out of date. A buyer who wants the house keeps the offer open, the funds ready and the deposit in escrow; an offer that was not written to wait is where many sales come apart.

This article explains why confirmation hearings move, the one-year rule a continuance can trip, and what the buyer and the administrator do while they wait. It is general information, not legal advice. The estate's attorney handles the hearing and can explain any continuance in your case.

What a continuance is, and what it is not

A continuance is a new hearing date, not a ruling. The petition for confirmation, filed on Judicial Council form DE-260, stays on file, the accepted offer stays the offer before the court, and nothing about the sale is decided until the judge hears it. Under section 10308, the sale has to be confirmed before title passes to the purchaser, so escrow cannot close on the old date or any date before the new one.

A continuance is also not the end of the overbid. Whoever appears on the new date with a qualifying written offer can still overbid under section 10311, by at least 10 percent of the first ten thousand dollars and 5 percent of the rest of the original bid. A longer wait can mean more time for other buyers to hear about the house.

Why confirmation hearings move

Every court and every case is different, and the attorney is the one who knows why a particular hearing moved. These are reasons the Probate Code itself points to:

• Notice of the hearing. Section 10308 requires notice of the confirmation hearing under section 1220, to the people that section names and to the purchasers named in the petition. Section 1220 requires notice at least 15 days before the hearing. If notice was late or someone was missed, the court may need a later date.
• Proof on file. Before confirming, section 10313 requires, among other things, that any required proof of notice of sale has been filed and that a private sale meets the 90 percent appraisal rule in section 10309. A missing document can move the date.
• Objections. Under section 10310, any interested person may file written objections at or before the hearing and may testify and present witnesses. An heir who objects to the price can lengthen the process.
• The court's own questions about the necessity of the sale, the advantage to the estate or the representative's efforts to obtain the highest and best price, all of which section 10310 asks the court to examine.
• The court's calendar. Section 1045 lets the court continue any hearing in the interest of justice.

The California courts' formal probate guide tells petitioners to go to the court date in case the judge has questions, and the same habit helps at a confirmation hearing. An attorney who checks the file before the hearing may catch some of these problems in time.

The one-year rule a continuance can trip

This is the part of a continuance that most often surprises a buyer. Section 10309 lets the court confirm a private sale only if the house was appraised within one year before the hearing, with a valuation date inside that year, and the price is at least 90 percent of that appraised value. Form DE-260 says it plainly: if more than one year has passed from the date of death to the hearing, reappraisal is required.

The year is counted to the hearing, not to the offer. A hearing continued past that line needs a new appraisal before the court can confirm. Section 10309 allows a new appraisal in that case, and also when the court is satisfied the existing one is too high or too low. If a new appraisal lands higher, an accepted price that once cleared the 90 percent floor may no longer clear it. How the floor works, with blank numbers, is in the 90 percent rule and the referee's appraisal.

What a continuance does to the buyer

The buyer's position depends on how the offer was written.

• A financed buyer has to stretch a rate lock and a loan approval to the new date, often at a cost, and may have to update the lender's file. This is the most common point where financed buyers withdraw, as set out in why financed buyers fall out of probate sales.
• A cash buyer has no lock to extend, but still has money committed to a house it does not own yet. A cash offer is only useful here if it says, in writing, that it stays open through the hearing and any continuance. Offers through Mr. Cali Offers come from independent buyers and investors, and on the confirmation track they are written that way.
• Any buyer waits with the deposit in escrow. Whether and when it can be returned if the buyer withdraws during a continuance depends on the agreement; the terms are described in the probate purchase agreement and its special terms.

What the buyer does while waiting

1. Get the new date in writing from the estate's attorney, along with the department and any reason given.
2. Confirm the offer still stands, in writing, if the agreement's open period does not already cover the new date.
3. Keep proof of funds current, dated and in the buyer's own name, for the new hearing.
4. Leave the house alone. Until confirmation and recording, the house belongs to the estate. No work, no moving in and no promises to tenants or neighbors.
5. Decide again whether to appear and bid if there is an overbid on the new date.

What the administrator can do

• Ask the attorney what caused the continuance and whether anything is needed before the new date: corrected notice, a missing document, a new appraisal.
• Tell the buyer promptly, with the new date, so the buyer can confirm the offer still stands.
• Keep the house insured and secure. An empty estate house carries the same taxes, insurance and utilities during a continuance as before it, and the court process does not pause those bills.
• Keep the heirs informed. A continuance is easier to accept when the heirs hear the reason from the representative before they hear it from someone else.

Which court and department will hear a case is set out in which superior court handles your county's probate, and how the hearing fits into the whole timeline is in how long probate takes in California.

When a continuance makes listing the better choice

A cash offer earns its place on the confirmation track by waiting. Repeated continuances can change that math. If the hearing keeps moving, the house would draw owner-occupants, and the estate can carry the costs, the time a cash sale was meant to save may already be gone, and the estate's attorney may weigh whether the house is better served by full exposure to the market. In those files the open-market read on the written report often nets more, and when it does the recommendation says so, with an introduction to a designated local expert, an independently licensed California agent. The comparison is laid out in listing a probate house vs. a cash probate offer.

What this looks like in practice

These are the kinds of files that come in, described without names or figures.

• A Rancho Cucamonga house in Alta Loma where the hearing was continued close to the anniversary of the referee's valuation, and the attorney asks whether a new appraisal will be needed before the new date.
• A Chino house in College Park, a newer planned community with HOA and special-tax items in the net, where an heir filed an objection to the price and the administrator wants the written report's comps and deductions ready for the next hearing.
• An administrator out of state whose financed buyer withdrew after the first continuance, and who needs an offer written to hold through the next one.

Getting an offer written to wait

If an estate's confirmation hearing has moved, or might, see how probate cash offers are written to hold through confirmation, or call (909) 498-3977 with the case's authority and the current hearing date. There is no cost and no obligation to get the two numbers and the written report. The full process is mapped in the guide to probate sales in California and the probate sales knowledge center.

Sources

• California Probate Code section 1045 (the court may continue or postpone any hearing), copy read on california.public.law, accessed November 6, 2026
• California Probate Code section 1220 (notice of hearing at least 15 days before the hearing), copy read on california.public.law, accessed November 6, 2026
• California Probate Code section 10308 (confirmation before title passes; notice of the confirmation hearing), copy read on california.public.law, accessed November 6, 2026
• California Probate Code section 10309 (appraisal within one year before the hearing; 90 percent floor; new appraisal), copy read on california.public.law, accessed November 6, 2026
• California Probate Code section 10310 (what the court examines; written objections), copy read on california.public.law, accessed November 6, 2026
• California Probate Code section 10311 (overbid at the confirmation hearing), copy read on california.public.law, accessed November 6, 2026
• California Probate Code section 10313 (findings required to confirm; new sale if not met), copy read on california.public.law, accessed November 6, 2026
• Judicial Council of California, form DE-260, Report of Sale and Petition for Order Confirming Sale of Real Property: courts.ca.gov, accessed November 6, 2026
• Judicial Branch of California, formal probate self-help guide: selfhelp.courts.ca.gov, accessed November 6, 2026

Mr. Cali Offers is not a law firm and does not act as, or replace, the estate's attorney. Cash offers come from independent buyers and investors who buy for their own account and may resell for profit; a cash offer is generally below what the open market would bring. Any value shown is a preliminary estimate, not an appraisal. Nothing here is legal, tax or financial advice.