Probate and estates
An inherited house arrives with obligations attached, and some of them start running before probate has finished.
Four costs catch heirs out most often. There is also a fifth thing worth checking, which occasionally works in your favour.
The four
Probate commonly runs nine to eighteen months. Property taxes, insurance, utilities and maintenance continue throughout, and they fall to the estate or to whoever is fronting them.
Properties held by somebody elderly or unwell for a long period often carry years of postponed work. Roof, plumbing, electrical and foundation problems surface exactly when the estate has least cash.
In states with statutory probate fees, including California, attorney and executor fees are calculated on the gross value of the estate, not the equity. A house with a large mortgage still generates fees based on the full appraised value.
Outstanding mortgages, tax liens, HOA arrears and judgment liens do not disappear on death. They follow the property and must be cleared before clean title passes.
The fifth thing
Estates frequently have funds sitting unclaimed somewhere, and heirs almost never know. Common sources include surplus from a foreclosure or tax sale the deceased went through, a settlement or judgment never collected, condemnation or eminent domain proceeds, and refunds returned undelivered after an address change.
These sit with courts, county treasurers and agencies rather than on any state unclaimed property website. Finding them means searching case files and ledgers that were never built for public searching.
It is worth checking before you conclude the estate cannot cover its own costs.
Worth checking
If a foreclosure or tax sale has already happened, there may be money left over that belongs to you. The search is free and you owe nothing unless we recover funds.