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- The order for probate, form DE-140, says whether you have independent administration authority and whether it is full or limited.
- Limited authority leaves out selling real property, so a sale of the building has to be confirmed by the court, Probate Code section 10403.
- A Notice of Proposed Action for a sale must state the price and the commission, section 10585, and go out at least 15 days before the date it names, section 10586.
- A written objection or a restraining order, delivered in time, moves the sale into court, section 10589.
What do full and limited authority mean?
They are the two levels of authority a personal representative can hold under the Independent Administration of Estates Act, Part 6 of Division 7 of the Probate Code. Full authority includes every power the Act grants, section 10402. Limited authority includes all of them except four, section 10403, and all four concern real property:
| Action | Full authority | Limited authority |
|---|---|---|
| Sell real property | Included, through the Notice of Proposed Action procedure | Not included, needs court supervision |
| Exchange real property | Included | Not included, needs court supervision |
| Grant an option to buy real property | Included | Not included, needs court supervision |
| Borrow money secured by real property | Included | Not included, needs court supervision |
The order for probate, Judicial Council form DE-140, states which kind of authority the court granted, if any. Read it before you talk to an agent about listing. An estate that owns an apartment building and holds only limited authority will be selling through the court, and that shapes the listing, the offers and the calendar.
Once a personal representative with full authority decides to sell, Probate Code section 10503 frees the sale from the confirmed-sale rules. The building can go to public auction or private sale at a price and on terms the personal representative sets, with no published notice of sale, no court sign-off on the commission, no 90 percent minimum and no hearing on whether selling is necessary. The Notice of Proposed Action takes the place of all of that.
What does a Notice of Proposed Action have to say?
The procedure is in Probate Code sections 10580 through 10592, and Judicial Council form DE-165 is the Notice of Proposed Action form. For a sale of real property, section 10585 requires the notice to state the material terms of the transaction. Those include the sale price and the amount of any commission or other compensation paid to an agent or broker, or the method used to calculate it.
Section 10581 says who receives it: each known heir and each beneficiary under the will whose interest the sale would affect, anyone who has filed a request for special notice, and the Attorney General when part of the estate would go to the state. Sections 10582 and 10583 carve out exceptions, which the estate's attorney applies to your case.
From the listing side, the notice is only as good as the deal behind it. A beneficiary deciding whether to object sees a price and a commission. It helps to have a short, factual account ready of how the building was marketed and what other offers came in, so the attorney can answer questions without guessing. If Shaya is the listing agent, ask him to keep that record as the listing runs.
How long is the objection window?
At least 15 days. Probate Code section 10586 requires the notice to be delivered, under section 1215, to each person entitled to it no less than 15 days before the date the notice names as the date on or after which the sale will be made. A mailed notice goes to the person's last known address.
An objection counts only if it arrives in time. Under section 10587, a written objection has to be delivered or received at the address stated in the notice before whichever comes later, the date named in the notice or the date the sale is made. The Probate Code allows exactly two ways to object:
- Deliver or mail a written objection under section 10587.
- Get a restraining order from the court under section 10588 and serve it within the time that section allows.
A beneficiary who calls you to complain has not objected. That does not make the call safe to ignore, since a person who is unhappy with the price on day three can still put an objection in writing on day twelve. Pay attention to who is unhappy and why, and tell the estate's attorney.
Build the window into the purchase contract. The buyer should know the date in the notice, and the contract should say what happens to the deposit and the timeline if an objection arrives.
What happens if a beneficiary objects?
The sale moves into court. Section 10589 says that when a proposed action would need court supervision without independent administration authority, and the personal representative has notice of a written objection or a restraining order, the personal representative who still wants to proceed must use the court-supervised procedure for that kind of action. For a building, that means a sale reported to the court and confirmed at a hearing under Probate Code section 10308.
Three things follow from that.
- The objector gets a seat. Anyone who objected in writing or served a restraining order is entitled to notice of the hearing on the petition for confirmation.
- The deal is exposed to overbids. The accepted offer becomes the original bid at a confirmation hearing, where section 10311 lets other buyers top it and section 10309 applies the 90 percent floor. The page on court confirmation and overbidding walks through that hearing.
- Going ahead anyway is a serious mistake. Section 10589 lets the court remove a personal representative who takes the proposed action in violation of it.
An objection does not kill the sale. It changes who decides. Sometimes the objection is about price and the hearing answers it, because a person who thinks the building is worth more can make a higher offer at the hearing. Sometimes it is about something else entirely, such as an heir who wanted to buy the building or wanted to keep it, and those are legal and family questions for the estate's attorney. Shaya is a real estate agent, not an attorney, and cannot advise on how to respond to an objection.
How does each route change the sale for buyers?
| Full authority | Court confirmation | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Negotiated, and the 90 percent rule does not apply | At least 90 percent of an appraisal made within a year of the hearing |
| Terms | As the personal representative agrees, section 10503 | Conditional offers are generally not accepted in practice |
| Competition after acceptance | None built in | Open overbidding at the hearing |
| Main wait | The notice period, at least 15 days | Published notice of sale, the petition and the court's calendar |
| Commission | Disclosed in the notice | Approved by the court |
A full-authority sale gives a buyer more certainty, since nobody can take the building from them at a hearing unless an objection sends it there. A confirmed sale gives the estate a public test of the price at the hearing, at the cost of time and of buyers who will not wait. Neither route is the right one for every estate. Ask the estate's attorney which route your authority and your family make realistic before the building goes on the market.