Updated August 25, 2026. Quick answer: The letters read as though the decision is the executor’s alone and the only question is whether the price is good enough. Whether an executor may take a private offer at all is not a matter of judgment. Under limited authority the sale of real property goes back to the court. Under full authority the statute switches off the 90 percent floor, the publication, the court’s approval of the commission and the court’s own examination of whether the sale benefits the estate. What is left is a 15-day notice and a written objection – and a waiver that catches the person who lets the 15 days pass.
Which letters the executor holds decides who decides
Under limited authority there is no discretion about the forum. A “personal representative who has obtained only limited authority to administer the estate under this part is required to obtain court supervision, in the manner provided in this code, for any of the following actions: (1) Sale of real property.”
Under full authority the power is unqualified in a single sentence: “The personal representative who has full authority has the power to sell or exchange real property of the estate.” One line, and no hearing in it.
This is written on the letters the court issued, and the letters are in the court file. It is the first thing to establish, before any conversation about price, because it determines whether there will be a hearing at which anyone else can bid.
What full authority actually switches off
Section 10503 names the protections it removes, and the list is worth reading slowly: “court approval of agents’ and brokers’ commissions, sale at not less than 90 percent of appraised value” – along with publication of notice of sale and the court’s examination into the necessity for the sale and the advantage to the estate.
So under full authority there is no statutory floor tied to the appraisal, no published notice that would let a competing buyer find the property, and no judge asking whether the sale was a good idea. That is not a defect in the statute; it is the trade the Legislature made for speed and cost. But it means the protections a beneficiary imagines are running in the background are, on that path, not running.
Fifteen days, in writing
What replaces them is the notice of proposed action. It must be delivered “not less than 15 days before the date specified in the notice of proposed action on or after which the proposed action is to be taken”. That is the window, and it is short.
| Step | What the statute requires | Section |
|---|---|---|
| The representative gives notice of proposed action | not less than 15 days before the date named in the notice | Prob. Code § 10586 |
| You object, in writing, to the address on the notice | any writing identifying the action and saying you object; a Judicial Council form exists | Prob. Code § 10587(b) |
| The objection lands in time | by the date named in the notice, or the date the action is actually taken, whichever is later | Prob. Code § 10587(c) |
| The sale goes to the court instead | the representative must proceed under the provisions dealing with court supervision | Prob. Code § 10589(a) |
| You receive the notice and say nothing | the right to have the court review the action afterwards is waived | Prob. Code § 10590(a) |
California, independent administration. The last row is the one that is never in the covering letter, and it is the row that decides most cases.
Objecting is deliberately easy. “The objection to the proposed action is made by delivering pursuant to Section 1215 a written objection to the proposed action to the personal representative at the address stated in the notice of proposed action.” A Judicial Council form exists, and the statute says any writing that identifies the action and says you object will do.
The objection is the whole lever
It is not a request. Where the action would have needed court supervision but for the grant of authority, an objection puts it back: “the personal representative shall, if the personal representative desires to take the proposed action, take the proposed action under the provisions of this code dealing with court supervision of that kind of action.” The sale can still happen. It happens in front of a judge, with the 90 percent floor, the publication and the overbid back on.
And the trap on the other side of the same rule
The reason the 15 days matter is what happens when they pass. A person entitled to notice who receives it and does not object “waives the right to have the court review the proposed action after it has been taken, or otherwise to object to the proposed action after it has been taken.”
So the envelope that looks like a formality is the decision. A beneficiary who reads it, dislikes the price, says nothing and complains after the close has spent the objection they were given. The statute keeps narrow openings for someone who genuinely never received the notice, and for an heir who lacked capacity or was a minor with no notice to a guardian – but the ordinary case is closed by silence.
The standard the executor is held to regardless
None of this is a licence. The personal representative “has the management and control of the estate and, in managing and controlling the estate, shall use ordinary care and diligence.” That duty does not switch off with the hearing, and it is the standard against which a sale to the first letter-writer is measured later, when someone asks why.
It is also worth knowing what the court would have asked if it had been asked. In a confirmed sale the court must “examine into the necessity for the sale or the advantage to the estate and the benefit to the interested persons in making the sale” – necessity, advantage, benefit. An executor who can answer those three about a private offer is on solid ground. One who cannot is exposed, and personally so.
What this page does not settle
This page is about who decides, on what notice, under California’s independent administration statute. It is not an accusation against any buyer and it publishes no figure for what these offers are worth.
This describes California’s independent administration statute. Every state grants executors some version of independent authority, and the terms differ; we read no other state’s version this session.
It is not about whether any particular buyer is honest. Investors who write to executors include people who close quickly and pay what they said they would.
We publish no figure for how far below market these offers land. No primary source we read this session establishes one.
Nothing here is a claim that a fast private sale is wrong. Sometimes it is the right answer for the estate, and the statutes below are how it is done so that it holds up.
Sources
- Cal. Prob. Code § 10310(a) — https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=PROB§ionNum=10310.
- Cal. Prob. Code § 10501(b) — https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=PROB§ionNum=10501.
- Cal. Prob. Code § 10503 — https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=PROB§ionNum=10503.
- Cal. Prob. Code § 10511 — https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=PROB§ionNum=10511.
- Cal. Prob. Code § 10586 — https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=PROB§ionNum=10586.
- Cal. Prob. Code § 10587(b) — https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=PROB§ionNum=10587.
- Cal. Prob. Code § 10589(a) — https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=PROB§ionNum=10589.
- Cal. Prob. Code § 10590(a) — https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=PROB§ionNum=10590.
- Cal. Prob. Code § 9600(a) — https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=PROB§ionNum=9600.
Related: Court Confirmation and the Overbid · Selling the House in a State You Do Not Live In · the other seven · what supervision means in your state.
General information drawn from the primary statutes and published company pages named above, not legal, tax or financial advice. Statutes are amended and company terms change; the figures here are what each source said on the date above, and the section or page is linked so you can check it.