Whether you need court approval depends on the authority the court granted your executor or administrator. Full authority under the Independent Administration of Estates Act lets you sell without a confirmation hearing, as long as proper notice goes out first. Limited authority means a judge has to confirm the sale before it’s final.
TLDR
- Full IAEA authority lets a personal representative sell without a court hearing, but a Notice of Proposed Action still has to go out to every heir with a 15-day window to object
- Limited authority means the sale isn’t final until a judge confirms it at a hearing, where the price must be at least 90% of the appraised value and other buyers can outbid the accepted offer in the room
- The authority level is printed on the Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration issued when the court appoints the personal representative
- A probate attorney can often petition to upgrade limited authority to full authority mid-case, which removes the hearing requirement for future sales
- Selling to a cash buyer works under either authority type, though the paperwork and timeline differ
Most people going through probate for the first time assume a judge has to sign off on everything. Some do, and some don’t, and the difference comes down to two words buried in a court document most families never read closely: full authority.
If your executor or administrator was granted full authority, you can sell the house close to how a normal sale works. If they were granted limited authority, there’s a hearing, and it can change your price, your timeline, and who ends up buying the house.
Here’s how to tell which one applies to you, and what actually happens in each case.
What Determines Whether You Need Court Approval
The type of authority granted to your personal representative determines whether the sale needs a judge’s confirmation. This is decided under California’s Independent Administration of Estates Act, usually at the very start of probate, when the court appoints an executor or administrator and issues Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration.
The Probate Code, Sections 10400 through 10592, lays out both types of authority and what a personal representative can and can’t do under each one.
Full authority is the more common outcome in Los Angeles County probate cases today, and most attorneys request it by default when they file the initial petition.
Full Authority: What It Lets You Skip, and What It Doesn’t
Full authority lets the personal representative list, negotiate, and sell the house without a court confirmation hearing. That’s the part most people have heard about. What’s less understood is that full authority doesn’t mean no paperwork. Before the sale can close, the personal representative has to send a Notice of Proposed Action to every heir and interested party, and those parties get 15 days to object.
If no one objects, the sale goes through on the agreed terms. No hearing, no overbidding, no judge reviewing the price.
If someone does object within that window, the sale can be pushed into the same court confirmation process that limited authority requires. So full authority speeds things up, but it’s not a guarantee the court stays out of it entirely.
A family in Riverside had full authority and sold their inherited home to a cash buyer. No one objected to the notice, the deal closed in 15 days, and they used part of the proceeds to pay the attorney’s fees and cover a lien that had come up during the title search. That’s the version of a probate sale most families with full authority end up experiencing.
Limited Authority: What the Confirmation Hearing Actually Involves
Limited authority means the sale is not final until a probate judge confirms it in court. The house still gets appraised, listed, and marketed the way any sale would be, and an offer still gets accepted. What changes is what happens next.
Under Section 10309 of the Probate Code, the court won’t confirm a private sale unless the accepted offer is at least 90% of the property’s appraised value, and that appraisal has to be less than a year old. If the appraisal is stale, it gets redone before the hearing can happen.
At the hearing itself, the judge reviews the sale, and then anyone in the room can bid the price up. This is the overbid process, and it surprises a lot of families the first time they see it.
The starting overbid is set by Section 10311: 10% of the first $10,000 of the accepted offer, plus 5% of everything above that. On a $500,000 accepted offer, the first overbid has to be at least $525,500. From there, the judge sets the increments for any further bidding.
A probate sale in Long Beach had limited authority. The family had an accepted offer, but at the hearing, another buyer overbid by $10,000. The sale was delayed about six weeks while the higher bid worked through the process, and it closed after the court confirmed the new price.
How to Find Out Which Authority You Have
The Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration name the type of authority the court granted. These are the documents issued right after the personal representative is appointed, and they’re the fastest way to check without waiting on a phone call.
If the paperwork isn’t easy to locate, the probate attorney handling the case or the county probate clerk can confirm it directly. It’s worth checking early. Marketing a house for sale before knowing which process applies leads to a timeline that has to be reset once the answer comes back.
Can You Change From Limited to Full Authority Mid-Case?
Yes, in some cases. If the estate started with limited authority, the personal representative’s attorney can petition the court to expand it to full authority partway through probate.
This usually requires showing the court there’s good cause, and that the heirs aren’t objecting to the change. It won’t undo a hearing that’s already happened, but it can remove the requirement for future sales in the same estate, which matters if the estate includes more than one property.
Deciding whether to sell at all, and who to sell to, is a separate question from the court process covered here. Our probate guide walks through the full decision, including when selling to a cash buyer makes sense and when it doesn’t.
By this point you probably know which authority applies to your case, and whether a hearing is ahead of you or not. Either way, the sale still has to close, and that’s where we come in.
Mrs. Property Solutions has worked with California families through both full and limited authority probate sales since 2016. We buy homes as-is, so there’s no need to make repairs or clean the house out before closing, and we work around whatever the court process requires on your end.
Since 2016, we’ve purchased 150+ homes across Southern California and earned 50+ five-star reviews from families going through exactly this. We’re local to LA County, and the offer we make is the offer we honor. No repairs, no commissions, no surprises.
If you’d like a no-obligation cash offer while you sort out the court side of things, get in touch and we’ll walk you through what it would look like for your situation. There’s no cost and no pressure to move forward.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Independent Administration of Estates Act?
The Independent Administration of Estates Act is a California law that lets a personal representative sell estate property without a judge’s sign-off, as long as the court granted full authority. Without it, nearly every real estate sale in probate needs a court confirmation hearing. It’s codified in Probate Code Sections 10400 through 10592.
How do I find out if I have full or limited authority?
Check the Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration issued when the court appointed the personal representative. These documents state which type of authority was granted. If they’re hard to locate, a probate attorney or the county probate clerk can confirm the authority level directly.
What is a Notice of Proposed Action?
A Notice of Proposed Action is a written notice sent to every heir and interested party before a full-authority sale closes. It gives them 15 days to object. If no one objects, the sale can proceed without a court hearing. If someone does object, the sale can be pushed into the court confirmation process.
Can a sale be blocked even with full authority?
Yes. An heir or interested party can object to the Notice of Proposed Action within the 15-day window. That objection can force the sale into the same court confirmation hearing that limited authority requires, even though full authority was granted.
How much can someone overbid at a confirmation hearing?
California Probate Code Section 10311 sets the minimum first overbid at 10% of the first $10,000 of the accepted offer, plus 5% of the amount above that. On a $500,000 accepted offer, the first overbid must be at least $525,500. The judge sets the increments for any bids after that.
Can I switch from limited authority to full authority during probate?
In some cases, yes. The personal representative’s attorney can petition the court to expand limited authority to full authority mid-case, usually by showing good cause and that the heirs don’t object. It won’t reverse a hearing that already happened, but it can remove the requirement for future sales.
Does selling to a cash buyer avoid the court approval process?
No. A cash sale still has to go through whichever process the estate’s authority requires, full or limited. A cash buyer can make the timeline faster once the process is underway, since there’s no lender underwriting or appraisal contingency on the buyer’s side to wait on.
Disclaimer: This article explains how court approval generally works for a probate home sale in California. It isn’t legal or tax advice, and the details can vary by county and by situation. Talk to a probate attorney about the authority granted in your specific case.
Helpful Resources
- Inherited a house in California
- Can You Sell a House During Probate Without All Heirs Agreeing in California?
- How Long Does Probate Take in California (And Can You Speed It Up)?
- Essential Probate Documents You’ll Need to Sell a House in California
- How Much Does Probate Cost in California?