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The Primary Residence Succession Petition: Avoiding Probate on a Home Worth Up to $750,000
For deaths on or after April 1, 2025, a California primary residence worth up to $750,000 can pass to the people entitled to it by court petition, without a full probate.
Until that date the same procedure had a ceiling of $184,500. In a county where that figure bought very little, it was close to irrelevant. At $750,000 it is not. The change came from Assembly Bill 2016, which amended the Probate Code effective January 1, 2025, with the new dollar limit applying to deaths on or after April 1, 2025.
If someone died owning a home in San Diego County and that home is worth $750,000 or less, the question is no longer whether you are facing a year of probate in San Diego. It is whether this petition fits.
What the petition is, and what it is not
It is not an affidavit. That distinction matters, because the phrase small estate affidavit gets used for both, and they are different procedures involving very different amounts of work. Our guide to the small estate affidavit covers the other route.
Probate Code section 13151 allows a successor to file a petition in the superior court asking for an order determining that the primary residence passes to them. There is a filing, a verified petition, an appraisal, a notice requirement and a court order.
What there is not is a personal representative, letters, a creditor claim period, an inventory of the whole estate, a year of administration, or statutory attorney and executor fees calculated on the value of the estate. That last point is usually the one families care about, and our probate fee calculator shows what full administration would have cost on the same house.
The conditions
| Requirement | Detail | Source |
|---|---|---|
| The property | Real property that was the decedent’s primary residence in California | § 13151(a) |
| Value | Gross value not exceeding $750,000 | §§ 13151(a), 13154(b)(1) |
| Timing | At least 40 days since the death | § 13151(a) |
| No administration | No estate proceeding pending or concluded in California, or the personal representative consents in writing | § 13150 |
| Notice | Notice of the petition delivered to each heir and devisee named in it within five business days of filing | § 13151(b) |
| Valuation | Inventory and appraisal attached, prepared by a probate referee | § 13152(a)(2) |
Two things that catch people out
The residence does not have to be where they were living when they died
Section 13150 says so in terms: for this chapter, primary residence is not limited to the decedent’s residence at the time of their death. This matters more than it sounds. Someone who spent their last two years in a care facility, or with a daughter in another county, has not necessarily lost the benefit of this procedure for the house they left behind. Families assume the opposite and file a full probate they did not need.
Five business days is short
Section 13151(b) requires notice of the petition to go to each heir and devisee named in it within five business days of filing. Not before filing, and not whenever the hearing is set. On a self-filed petition this is the requirement most often missed, and missing it means a continuance at best.
What the court decides
Under section 13154 the court can make the order only if it finds that the gross value of the primary residence does not exceed $750,000, that 40 days have passed since the death, that no administration is pending or the personal representative has consented, and that the property is in fact passing to the petitioners.
If it makes those findings it issues an order describing the property and stating each petitioner’s interest in it. That order is what gets recorded with the county recorder to clear title.
Where the other thresholds sit
This petition is not the only route, and the figures are easy to conflate. For deaths on or after April 1, 2025:
| Procedure | Limit | Code section |
|---|---|---|
| Affidavit for collection or transfer of personal property | $208,850 gross | § 13100 |
| Petition determining succession to primary residence | $750,000 gross | § 13151 |
| Affidavit re real property of small value, form DE-305 | $69,625 gross | § 13200 |
| Small estate set-aside for a surviving spouse and minor children | $107,900 net | §§ 6602, 6609 |
All of these are adjusted every three years under section 890, using the change in the Consumer Price Index and rounded to the nearest $25. The next adjustment is April 1, 2028. The Judicial Council publishes the current figures on form DE-300, which has to be attached to the filing. Our summary probate page sets out how these procedures run in San Diego.
The honest limit of this
At $750,000 this does not rescue every San Diego estate. Coastal North County and much of the city sit above that line, and for those homes full probate remains the route. Where it does bite is condominiums, mobile homes, older inland and East County properties, and homes where the gross value question is worth actually appraising rather than assuming.
Gross value means the value of the property, not the equity. A house worth $900,000 carrying a $400,000 mortgage does not qualify. That is the single most common misunderstanding we hear, and it is worth being clear about before anyone pays a filing fee.
If you are not sure
Whether this fits turns on an appraisal and on facts about the residence, and getting it wrong costs a continuance or a denial. A short call is usually enough to tell you whether the petition is available, whether full probate is unavoidable, or whether one of the other procedures applies. Book a free call and we will tell you which.
This article states the law as at September 2026 and the dollar limits in force for deaths on or after April 1, 2025. It is general information, not legal advice for your situation.