Estate Appraisals in San Bernardino

In a California court probate, the value of the house on the inventory comes from a probate referee appointed for the county, unless the court waives the referee. Our probate appraisals page explains what an independent appraisal can and cannot do there.

• California has no inheritance tax for deaths on or after June 8, 1982. Voters repealed it in 1982 with Proposition 6, which also bars the state and local governments from imposing one (Assembly Revenue and Taxation Committee).
• The State Controller's Office collects the old tax only for deaths before that date, and no California estate tax return has been required for a death on or after January 1, 2005 (State Controller: California estate tax).
• There is likewise no federal inheritance tax. Federal law taxes the transfer of the taxable estate, and the executor pays that estate tax (26 U.S.C. 2001, 2002). None is due for a U.S. citizen or resident who dies in 2026 unless the taxable estate, plus lifetime taxable gifts, exceeds the $15,000,000 basic exclusion amount (IRS: estate tax).
• Heirs generally do not report an inheritance as income (IRS Publication 525), but if they later sell for more than the date-of-death basis, that gain is taxable (IRS: gifts and inheritances). That is why the date-of-death value is worth documenting.

• Under 26 U.S.C. 1014(a), an heir's basis in inherited property is generally its fair market value at the date of death, or its value on the alternate valuation date if the executor elects one under section 2032.
• The alternate date is generally six months after death, though property sold or distributed sooner is valued when that happens. The executor makes the election on the estate tax return; once made it is irrevocable, and section 2032 permits it only when it reduces both the gross estate and the tax due (IRS Publication 551; 26 U.S.C. 2032).
• Publication 551 also lists California among the community property states. When a spouse dies, the total value of community property, including the survivor's half, generally becomes the basis of the entire property. That treatment depends on at least half of the community interest being includible in the gross estate of the spouse who died. Whether a given house is community property depends on its history; our IRS step-up page covers this in more detail.

• Which transfers: parent to child, dated February 16, 2021 or later. If the transfer happens because the parent died, the date of death counts as the transfer date.
• Which homes: the property tax exclusion applies only when the house was the parent's principal residence and becomes the child's principal residence (family farms have their own rule), so a rental home does not qualify.
• Value limit: the factored base year value plus $1,000,000, as adjusted every two years. The adjusted amount for February 16, 2025 to February 15, 2027 is $1,044,586, and whatever part of the market value exceeds the limit is added to the factored base year value.
• Moving in: the child has one year to move in and use the house as a primary residence, and filing for the homeowners' exemption within one year of the transfer keeps the exclusion effective from the transfer date.
• Filing: the claim (form BOE-19-P) must be filed with the county assessor no later than three years after the death or other transfer, and sooner if the property passes to a third party first (BOE: Proposition 19; BOE Publication 801). Here that office is the San Bernardino County Assessor, whose Proposition 19 page lists the BOE-19-P form.