In a San Mateo County Probate Sale What is a Personal Representative?

There is often confusion about who does what in a probate sale so today I am going to write about the Personal Representative.

When a person dies they either leave a will (or a trust)  which names an executor for their estate, or die without a will (or a trust) and therefore no executor.

If there is no trust then the estate must be probated. The probate court determines who will be the personal representative for the estate. The duties of the personal representative are very similar to an executor, but ultimately everything they do has to be approved by the probate court. If an executor has been named in a will then that person can petition to be the personal representative, but the court has to approve.

Once appointed the personal representative can ask for full authority to sell any real property but that is not always granted depending on the circumstances. If the personal representative gets full authority to sell the house then they can accept an offer just like an executor would in a trust sale. It does not have to go to court for confirmation and overbids, but the distribution of the funds is overseen by the court.

If you have any questions about trust or probate sales in San Mateo or Santa Clara County please feel free to contact me.

Marcy Moyer C.D.P.E.

Keller Williams Realty

www.marcymoyer.com

marcy@marcymoyer.com

650-619-9285

D.R.E. 01191194

San Mateo Trusts are Feeling Some Effects of the Current Economy

Today I had lunch with my favorite Trust Officer from one of our local banks.  We were talking about the state of the economy and how it is effecting trusts she administers as well as the real estate in those trusts.

My good friend said she used to administer trusts that had a few hundred thousand dollars in cash and a home that was fully paid for.  The home would be sold and the heirs would split a million dollars or more. Those were the good old days.

This year she has had a lot of trusts where there was no cash, and the homes had large mortgages on them.  This makes her job harder because it costs money to administer an estate and not having any cash till a home is sold is hard.  However, the fact that so many homes belonging to people who were in their 80's have outstanding mortgages on them is a recent phenonenum. I have been saying forever that there is a huge portion of the population who never intended to pay off their homes. They were depending on the appreciation of their homes to have money to retire or to pass on to heirs.  When the housing market lost equity they (or their heirs were out of luck.)

Even in a market that has held up much better than most of the country, this is a shift in retirement and 

inheritance plans of many people.

The Asian chicken salad was delicious, despite the depressing conversation.

If you have any questions about selling a home in a trust or probate please feel free to contact me.

Marcy Moyer

Keller Williams Realty

www.marcymoyer.com

marcy@marcymoyer.com

650-619-9285

D.R.E. 01191194