Contra Costa County Personal Representative Deed (Power of Sale) Form

No court order stands behind this deed. California routes estate sales of real property to a confirmation hearing, and Probate Code Section 10308 says so even where the will hands the executor a power of sale. The exception sits in Section 10503, and it turns on the letters rather than the will: once the court grants full authority to administer the estate, the confirmation requirements fall away and the representative sells at a price and on terms of the representative's own choosing. This California personal representative deed closes that sale.

The exception runs through the letters

Probate Code Section 10000 lists the grounds for selling estate real property, two of them testamentary: the will directs the property to be sold, or gives authority to sell it. Section 10308 then sends those sales to the court for confirmation before title passes to the purchaser, notwithstanding a will direction or a will power. Section 10503 lifts those requirements, publication of notice of sale, court approval of commissions, and the 90 percent of appraised value rule among them, for a sale made under the Independent Administration of Estates Act. A representative holding limited authority stays under Section 10501(b) and returns to court to sell. Full authority is the line between an overbid hearing and a private sale.

What this configuration recites

The form is set up for one personal representative of one estate, signing in the capacity the letters state and not individually, with one signature line and one acknowledgment certificate to match. Its authority section is where the variant lives: the date the will was admitted to probate, the provision granting the power of sale, the date full authority was granted, and the notice of proposed action given or the waivers taken in its place. A sale the court confirmed recites an order instead, and an intestate estate has no testamentary power to point to. An executor selling a family home under a will's power of sale, and an administrator with the will annexed closing a cash sale before the first account, present the pattern this executor deed recites.

A notice instead of a hearing

Skipping confirmation is not acting unseen. Section 10511 puts the power to sell real property among the powers a representative with full authority exercises after giving notice of proposed action, and Section 10581 names who receives it: known devisees and heirs whose interests would be affected, and anyone who filed a request for special notice. Sections 10582 to 10584 let those persons waive that notice or consent in writing, which is why the deed carries a waivers line beside the notice date. An objection under Section 10587 returns the sale to court supervision, and where notice was owed and never given, Section 10591 protects a bona fide purchaser's title.

Fiduciary title, no covenants

An administrator's deed or executor's deed moves a decedent's title rather than vouching for it. The conveyance section conveys all right, title, and interest of the estate and of the decedent, without covenant or warranty, and excludes the two covenants Civil Code Section 1113 would imply from the word grant. The grantee takes subject to liens, easements, and other matters of record. Where the decedent was married, Probate Code Section 100 has already left half of the community property with the surviving spouse, so the estate sells the interest it actually holds.

Page one, the transfer tax, and the recorder

Government Code Section 27361.6 reserves the top two and one half inches of page one and gives its left three and one half inches to the requester and return blocks, Section 27324 puts the title under that space, and Section 27321.5 calls for the future tax statement address. A probate sale for consideration is taxable, so the deed's face carries the transfer tax declaration Revenue and Taxation Code Sections 11932 and 11933 describe, computed at 55 cents for each 500 dollars under Section 11911, with the city or unincorporated area identified and the declaration signed by the party who determined the tax.

Three files come with the purchase: the fillable deed, a completed example for a Stanislaus County sale closed with no confirmation hearing, and a plain language guide covering the Probate Code chain, every numbered section, the notarial certificate, the recording and tax charges, and the limits of the deed. The notice of proposed action and the letters belong to the probate file, prepared separately. These materials are informational and not legal advice.