California Form DE-160: Filing the Inventory and Appraisal in Probate

California Form DE-160, the Inventory and Appraisal, is the document a personal representative files with the probate court to list every asset in a decedent’s estate and its fair market value as of the date of death. You complete it in two parts: Attachment 1 for cash and cash-equivalent assets you value yourself, and Attachment 2 for everything else, which a court-designated probate referee appraises. The signed form is due within four months after the court issues your Letters of Administration or Letters Testamentary. You can download the PDF from the California Courts website.¹

What to Gather Before You Start

Pull the case number from the probate petition, the decedent’s full legal name, and the name and branch of the superior court handling the case. These go in the form’s header. You will also need the companion form DE-161, the Inventory and Appraisal Attachment, which supplies the formatted pages where you actually list assets.¹

Then collect the underlying records: bank and brokerage statements showing balances on the date of death, deeds and property tax bills for real estate, vehicle titles, life insurance and retirement plan documents for benefits payable to the estate, and records for any debts owed to the decedent. Each item in the inventory must be listed separately with its fair market value as of the date of death.²

Attachment 1: Assets You Value Yourself

Attachment 1 is for items whose value is objectively clear from a statement or document. Under Probate Code Section 8901, the personal representative appraises these categories:³

Currency on hand, plus checks, drafts, and money orders issued on or before the date of death that can be immediately converted to cash.
Post-death checks for pre-death obligations, such as wages earned before death, tax or utility refunds, and Medicare or health insurance reimbursements issued after death.
Bank accounts, cash deposits, and money market mutual funds, whether held at a bank, brokerage, or elsewhere.
Life and accident insurance payable in a lump sum to the estate, and retirement or annuity death benefits payable in a lump sum to the estate.

For each item, write a clear description: the name of the financial institution and enough identifying detail (like the last few digits of the account number) to distinguish one account from another. Enter the exact dollar figure as of the date of death in the value column. If you think the fair market value of a cash-type item differs from its face value, move it to Attachment 2 and let the referee appraise it.

Attachment 2: Assets the Probate Referee Values

Attachment 2 covers everything not on Attachment 1: real estate, vehicles, stocks, bonds, mutual funds other than money market funds, business interests, jewelry, artwork, collectibles, and any other tangible or intangible property. The probate referee appraises all of these.⁴

Your job here is description, not valuation. Leave the value column blank. Describe each asset thoroughly:

Real estate: street address and the legal description from the deed.
Vehicles: year, make, model, and vehicle identification number.
Securities: company name and number of shares.

Probate Code Section 8850 requires extra detail in a few categories. Debts owed to the decedent must include the debtor’s name, the date, and the original amount. Partnership interests get listed as a single item. Any real property securing a debt must include either the recording reference or a legal description.⁵

If you want to list joint tenancy property or other non-probate assets for appraisal or tax purposes, put them on separate additional attachments and exclude their values from the totals on Attachments 1 and 2.¹

Using an Independent Expert for Unique Items

For unique, artistic, unusual, or special items of tangible personal property, such as a rare painting, antique furniture, or one-of-a-kind jewelry, you can elect to have an independent expert appraise the item instead of the probate referee. Note the election on the inventory you deliver to the referee. The referee has five days to challenge whether the item qualifies. If the challenge fails without substantial justification, the court can order the referee to pay your legal costs.⁶

Working With the Probate Referee

A probate referee is an appraiser appointed by the California State Controller to value estate assets, and the court designates a specific referee for your case.⁷ Once Attachment 2 has descriptions but no values, deliver it to the referee with supporting documents: recent property appraisals, brokerage statements, VINs, property tax bills, anything that helps them research values. The referee determines fair market value as of the date of death, fills in the numbers, and signs the form.

The referee’s fee is set by statute at one-tenth of one percent (0.1%) of the total appraised value of the assets they appraise, with a floor of $75 and a ceiling of $10,000 per estate.⁸ On $500,000 of appraised assets, the fee is $500. It is paid from estate funds as an ordinary expense of administration.

Waiving the Referee

You can ask the court to waive the referee requirement in unusual situations. File a petition showing good cause, attach a proposed inventory and appraisal with your own valuations, and give notice to all heirs, devisees, and the referee. The court holds a hearing at least 15 days later. If the waiver is granted, you file your own completed inventory.⁹ Most estates go through the standard referee process.

The Four-Month Filing Deadline

The completed Inventory and Appraisal is due within four months after letters are first issued to a general personal representative.¹⁰ The clock starts when the court issues your Letters of Administration or Letters Testamentary, not when the decedent died or when you filed the petition.

If the estate is complex or you are still waiting on appraisals, ask the court for more time. The court may grant an extension if the circumstances are reasonable. You can also file a partial inventory to meet the deadline and follow it later with a supplemental inventory covering the rest.

Signing, Filing, and Serving Copies

After the referee returns the signed form with Attachment 2 values filled in, finalize the document. On page one, sign the declaration under penalty of perjury confirming the inventory is a true statement of all estate property that has come to your knowledge or possession.¹ Check the box indicating whether the inventory covers all known property or only a portion.

Take the completed form to the clerk’s office at the superior court handling your case. The clerk stamps and files the original, which becomes a public record. Keep at least one stamped copy.

After filing, mail a copy to anyone who has filed a Request for Special Notice (Form DE-154). This mailing must happen within 15 days of the filing date.¹¹ File a proof of service with the court documenting who received copies and when.

What Happens If You Miss the Deadline

Missing the filing deadline is one of the fastest ways to lose your position as personal representative. If you refuse or negligently miss it, any interested person can petition the court, which has three options:¹²

Order you to file the inventory.
Remove you as personal representative.
Hold you personally liable for any injury to the estate or interested persons caused by the delay, including attorney’s fees. If you posted a bond, the liability attaches to it as well.

Courts generally do not jump to removal if you are making a good-faith effort and request an extension. Ignoring the deadline without explanation, or ignoring a court order to file, will almost certainly result in removal and potential financial liability.

Objections to the Values

Any interested person, including an heir, beneficiary, or creditor, can challenge the appraised value of any item by filing a written objection with the court. In a decedent’s estate, objections can be filed at any time before the hearing on the petition for final distribution.¹³ The clerk sets a hearing at least 15 days after the objection is filed, and the objecting party must notify you and the probate referee (if the referee made the appraisal) at least 15 days before the hearing.

Supplemental Inventories

If you discover additional property after filing the original DE-160, you must file a supplemental inventory covering the new assets. The format and process match the original: describe the assets, have the referee appraise the non-cash items, sign the declaration, and file with the court.¹⁴

You have four months from the date you learn about the additional property to file. Common triggers include a forgotten bank account, an unexpected insurance payout to the estate, or a royalty stream nobody mentioned. If you need to correct a value or description from the original filing, include the correction in the supplemental inventory.

Why Getting the Values Right Matters Beyond Probate

The values you report on DE-160 establish the tax basis beneficiaries inherit for each asset, which affects capital gains tax if they sell. Under federal tax law, inherited property receives a stepped-up basis equal to fair market value on the date of death. A house the decedent bought for $200,000 and worth $800,000 at death gives the beneficiary an $800,000 basis, so a sale at that price triggers no capital gains tax.

Understating values can trigger IRS penalties: 20% on the underpaid tax for a substantial valuation misstatement, and 40% for a gross misstatement.¹⁵ Overstating values saddles beneficiaries with an inflated basis and higher capital gains when they sell. Both errors trace back to the inventory you file with the court, which is why careful descriptions on Attachment 2 and accurate figures on Attachment 1 pay off long after probate closes.

1
Judicial Council of California. DE-160/GC-040 Inventory and Appraisal
2
California Legislative Information. California Code Probate Code 8802
3
California Legislative Information. California Code Probate Code 8901
4
Justia. California Code Probate Code 8900-8909
5
California Legislative Information. California Code Probate Code 8850
6
Justia. California Code Probate Code 8900-8909 – Section 8904
7
California State Controller. Probate Referees
8
Justia. California Code Probate Code 8960-8964
9
Justia. California Code Probate Code 8900-8909 – Section 8903
10
California Legislative Information. California Code Probate Code 8800-8804
11
Justia. California Code Probate Code 2700-2702
12
Justia. California Code Probate Code 8800-8804 – Section 8804
13
California Legislative Information. California Code Probate Code 8906
14
Justia. California Code Probate Code 8800-8804 – Section 8801
15
Internal Revenue Service. The Section 6662(e) Substantial and Gross Valuation Misstatement Penalty