044: Property Tax Exclusions in California Probate: The Rules Most Families Get Wrong, with Gregory R. Broege
California property taxes don't follow simple rules, and that gap in knowledge costs families thousands of dollars every year. In this episode, Sam Price sits down with Gregory R. Broege, a partner at Ajalat, Polley, Ayoob, Matarese, and Broege, to break down what actually happens to property taxes when a real property owner dies in California.
Gregory walks through the interspousal exclusion, the sweeping 2021 changes to the parent/child exclusion under Prop 19, grandparent/grandchild transfers, equalized distributions, and the co-tenancy exclusion for unmarried co-owners. The difference between the old rules and the new ones isn't academic. A family home that qualified for full exclusion before 2021 could now trigger a partial reassessment even when every requirement is met.
Anyone working in California probate needs to understand these rules before a filing deadline passes.
In this episode, you will hear:
- Prop 13 basics and why California property taxes reset at death
- How the interspousal exclusion protects surviving spouses from reassessment
- The 2021 Prop 19 changes that rewrote the parent/child exclusion rules
- Filing deadlines and homeowner's exemption requirements heirs must meet
- When the grandparent/grandchild exclusion applies and why the middle generation matters
- Equalized distributions and trust loans as strategies for keeping the Prop 13 base
- The co-tenancy exclusion for unmarried co-owners sharing a principal residence
Resources from this Episode
https://apataxlaw.com/personnel/gregory-r-broege/
The 6-Stage Probate Process: How to Navigate California Probate: https://a.co/d/82310Rw
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