The 90 Percent Rule: Probate Sale Price and the Referee's Appraisal

In a California probate sale that needs court confirmation, Probate Code section 10309 lets the court confirm a private sale only if the house was appraised within one year before the hearing and the price is at least 90 percent of that appraised value. The appraisal is usually the probate referee's: a person the State Controller appoints for the county, designated by the court to value the estate's non-cash property for the inventory. If an offer falls under the floor, the choices are a higher price, a new appraisal when the existing one is out of date or the court finds it too high or too low, or a different path. Sales made with full authority under the Independent Administration of Estates Act are exempt from the floor.

This article explains who the referee is, works the floor through with blank numbers, and shows where an honest as-is offer and an inventory value can part ways. It is general information; the estate's attorney decides what to ask the court for.

What does a probate referee do?

After letters issue, the personal representative lists what the decedent owned on the inventory and appraisal (form DE-160). Under section 8902, the representative delivers the inventory to the probate referee the court designates, and the referee appraises everything the representative did not, which for an estate house means the house. Section 8920 says the referee must be one of the people appointed by the Controller to act as a probate referee for that county, or from another county if none is able to act. The inventory and appraisal is due within four months after letters, under section 8800, unless the court allows more time.

The referee is paid by a commission set in section 8961: one-tenth of one percent of the total value of the property appraised for each estate, plus actual and necessary expenses, subject to section 8963.

The referee's value is not the only number in the file

Four other figures can sit in the same estate folder, and the court treats them differently.

NumberWho produces itWhat the court does with it

Referee's appraisal

The court-designated probate referee

Sets the 90 percent floor on the confirmation track

Automated estimate

A website algorithm that never saw the house

Nothing; it is a starting point at most

CMA

A licensed real estate agent

Nothing directly; it prices a listing

Certified appraisal

A state-licensed or certified appraiser hired by the estate

Can inform a request for a new appraisal; the attorney decides how to use it

Cash purchase offer

A buyer

It is the price tested against the floor

The open-market read on our written report is a preliminary estimate, not an appraisal. When the estate or its CPA needs an independent date-of-death value, that is a certified appraisal, and Mr. Cali Offers refers it out; Mr. Cali Appraisals, a separate appraisal practice that shares the Mr. Cali name, explains date-of-death appraisals, explained plainly.

The 90 percent floor, worked through with blank numbers

Every figure below is a dash. The structure is what an administrator and an attorney can check line by line on a real file.

LineAmount

Referee's appraised value (valuation date within one year of the hearing)

-

Floor: 90 percent of that appraised value

-

As-is value supported by the comparable sales

-

Less: line-item condition deductions (roof, panel, plumbing, drainage)

-

Less: contents removal and the buyer's holding and resale costs

-

Cash offer

-

Offer at or above the floor?

Yes / No

Minimum overbid at the hearing (section 10311)

-

Three readings come out of a sheet like this. If the offer clears the floor, the court can confirm it, subject to overbids. If it falls short and the deductions are real, the gap is evidence that the inventory value may not reflect the house's condition. If it falls short and the deductions are thin, the offer is the problem, not the appraisal. Keeping the lines visible is what lets the attorney tell the second case from the third. The overbid line comes from section 10311: at least 10 percent of the first $10,000 of the original bid plus 5 percent of the rest, as explained in what a probate court confirmation and overbid does to a cash offer.

When the referee's value is out of date or wrong for the house

Section 10309 provides for a new appraisal before the sale or the confirmation in three situations: the house was never appraised, it was not appraised within one year before the hearing, or the latest valuation date is more than a year old. The court may also order one if it is satisfied the latest appraisal is too high or too low. If the original referee made the first appraisal, that referee can make the new one without another order.

An inventory value is set as of the date of death. Condition found later, a roof that failed over a wet winter, a slope that moved, a house left vacant while heirs decided what to do, may not be in it. Whether to ask for a reappraisal is a judgment for the attorney, and the line-item deductions are what that judgment rests on.

Does the 90 percent rule apply without a hearing?

No. Section 10503 exempts a sale made with full authority under the Independent Administration of Estates Act from the 90 percent requirement, along with the published notice of sale and the confirmation hearing. The inventory value still matters, though: the notice of proposed action form (DE-165) shows it next to the sale price, and every heir with an affected interest sees both. A price well under the inventory value invites an objection, and an objection sends the sale back to court. That track is covered in notice of proposed action and the sales that skip the hearing.

When the floor points to listing instead

If the referee valued a well-kept house that would finance easily, the floor can sit close to what the open market would pay, and an as-is cash offer, which is generally below the open market, may not clear it. That is a signal, not a dead end. The open-market read on the same report shows what a listed sale would likely net after preparation, carrying time and the risk of a financed buyer failing before the hearing. When it nets more, the recommendation says so, and the administrator is introduced to a designated local expert who handles probate listings in that area. Mr. Cali Offers never lists a house.

What this looks like in practice

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

• A Glendora foothill house where the referee's value assumed average condition and the walkthrough found drainage and slope items. The deduction lines go to the attorney, who decides whether to ask for a new appraisal before the hearing.
• A Pomona house in the post-war tracts south of Holt Avenue with a converted garage, where the unpermitted square footage is priced as a separate line so the gap to the floor can be explained.
• A Rancho Cucamonga house in a newer Etiwanda tract inside a community facilities district, where special tax arrears must be cleared through escrow and appear as their own line in the net, separate from the price tested against the floor.

Checking an offer against the floor

If you administer an estate with a house in Southern California and the referee's value is already on the inventory, the written report can be laid against it line by line. Start with probate sale offers written for the confirmation hearing, or call (909) 498-3977. There is no cost and no obligation to get the two numbers and the written report. The full map of the sale, from authority to recording, is in the pillar, probate sales in California, and the rest of the cluster is in the probate sales knowledge center.

Sources

• California Probate Code section 10309 (appraisal within one year; at least 90 percent of appraised value; new appraisal): leginfo.legislature.ca.gov, accessed October 31, 2026
• California Probate Code section 10311 (overbid increments): leginfo.legislature.ca.gov, accessed October 31, 2026
• California Probate Code section 10503 (independent administration sales exempt from the 90 percent requirement): leginfo.legislature.ca.gov, accessed October 31, 2026
• California Probate Code section 8800 (inventory and appraisal deadline): leginfo.legislature.ca.gov, accessed October 31, 2026
• California Probate Code section 8902 (referee appraises property not appraised by the representative): leginfo.legislature.ca.gov, accessed October 31, 2026
• California Probate Code section 8920 (designation of a referee appointed by the Controller): leginfo.legislature.ca.gov, accessed October 31, 2026
• California Probate Code section 8961 (referee's commission): leginfo.legislature.ca.gov, accessed October 31, 2026
• Judicial Council of California, form DE-165, Notice of Proposed Action: courts.ca.gov, accessed October 31, 2026
• Judicial Branch of California, formal probate self-help guide (Inventory and Appraisal, form DE-160): selfhelp.courts.ca.gov, accessed October 31, 2026

Mr. Cali Offers is not a law firm and does not appraise property. 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.