Sackin-Stone Team
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PROBATE AND TRUST SALES IN COASTAL ORANGE COUNTY

You weren't expecting to be the one selling the house. We've helped families through this since 1988. Take it one step at a time.

The Sackin-Stone Team handles probate sales, trust sales, and estate-side listings throughout coastal Orange County. Lane Stone is Probate and Trust Certified. We work alongside your attorney, your CPA, and the rest of your family with the patience this work requires.

  • Experienced with court-supervised probate, trust, and estate-side transactions
  • We coordinate with your attorney, the executor, and family members directly
  • Same primary agent from listing to close, no handoffs

Tell us where you are

No commitment. No pressure. A first conversation to understand the situation and answer the questions you have right now.

Lane or a senior member of the team reaches out within one business day. We work on your timeline.

574 five-star reviews
across every major platform

Google  ★★★★★
238 Reviews

Zillow ★★★★★
186 Reviews

Yelp  ★★★★★
78 Reviews

Facebook  ★★★★★
42 Reviews

Realtor.com  ★★★★★
30 Reviews

This page is going to be pretty practical. We’re going to walk through what probate and trust sales actually involve, what the team does, what the timeline looks like, and what it costs.

We’re not going to talk about loss. We trust you to know what brought you here, and we know that the reading you’re doing right now is part of the work. If you need to come back to it tomorrow, that’s fine. There’s no urgency from our side.

The terms, plainly explained

Probate, trust, and estate-side sales. What's the difference?

These terms get used interchangeably and they shouldn’t. The differences affect timeline, paperwork, court involvement, and how the sale proceeds. Here’s the short version. Your attorney will give you the long one.

Probate Sale

When the owner died without a living trust
  • Court-supervised sale process
  • Executor of the estate is the seller (appointed by the probate court)
  • May require a court confirmation hearing depending on the offer and the state of California's probate rules
  • Timeline typically 6–9 months, sometimes longer
  • Slightly more paperwork; we work directly with the probate attorney throughout

Trust Sale

When the owner had a revocable living trust

  • No court supervision required (the whole point of the trust)
  • Trustee is the seller, named in the trust document
  • Sells like a typical transaction with some extra disclosure requirements
  • Timeline typically matches a standard sale: 30–90 days from list to close
  • We coordinate with the trust attorney for documentation and tax timing

Estate-Side Sale

When the owner is living but the family is selling

  • The current homeowner is selling, often with adult children or a power-of-attorney involved
  • No probate or trust complications; a standard sale with extra family coordination
  • Timeline matches a standard sale
  • We're frequently brought in for these by adult children helping a parent sell

Three common follow-up questions.

Do I need to know which one applies to my situation before I call you?

No. Most of our first conversations include exactly this question. Your attorney has likely already told you, but if not, we can usually identify which path applies based on a 5-minute conversation about the documents you have. We then loop in your attorney to confirm and proceed.

This happens often, especially in recent passings. If there’s no attorney engaged, we can refer you to estate attorneys we’ve worked with in HB and OC. Your first call should be with an attorney before we list anything; we’ll help you find one if needed.

Yes. We do this regularly. The decision to sell is often part of a larger family conversation about what to do with the property (keep, rent, sell, divide proceeds among siblings). We can talk through the options without committing you to a sale.

We are not attorneys. Always confirm legal specifics with your estate attorney.

What the team does

What we handle, so the family can handle what only the family can.

An estate or trust sale has more parties involved than a standard transaction: the executor or trustee, the estate attorney, the CPA or financial advisor, sometimes multiple beneficiaries, sometimes a probate court. Our role is to manage the property side of the work and the coordination across all those parties, so the family can focus on the conversations only the family can have.

Before listing the property

  • Initial conversation to understand the situation, the parties involved, and the family dynamics
  • Coordination with the estate attorney (if engaged) on timing and authority
  • Attorney referrals if no attorney is engaged yet
  • Property walk-through to assess condition and recommend pre-listing work
  • Coordination with estate sale companies, donation services, and clean-out vendors
  • Vetted contractor referrals if repairs are warranted
  • Comparative Market Analysis with comps appropriate to the property's condition
  • Pricing strategy that accounts for the estate's tax situation and timeline

Listing and marketing

  • Professional photography and 3D virtual tour
  • Listing across MLS, Zillow, Realtor.com, Redfin, and 20+ syndicated platforms
  • Targeted digital marketing (Google Ads, Meta, retargeting)
  • Showings managed with respect for the family's pace and schedule
  • For court-supervised probate: court-confirmation procedures and overbid hearings if required

Through the transaction

  • Offer evaluation and negotiation by Certified Negotiation Expert (Lane Stone, CNE)
  • Coordination with the estate attorney through escrow
  • Full escrow management by certified TC (Joanne Chaikovsky)
  • Communication with all beneficiaries kept consistent and documented
  • All required estate disclosures and exemptions handled
  • Coordination with tax timing for the estate or trust
  • Final accounting documentation provided to the attorney for estate filings

After closing

  • Vendor referrals for anything the family still needs (storage, movers, document services)
  • Available for follow-up questions from the executor or attorney
  • Closing documents archived and accessible for any future estate-related questions

WHAT THIS LOOKS LIKE IN PRACTICE

Three recent estate and probate stories.

Each of these is a real, recent transaction handled by the team. We’ve included them because the families’ words describe what working through this kind of sale actually feels like better than we could.

RM

A probate sale with serious complications.

Winston Yeh handled a probate sale where the property required significant work and the legal process was unusually complicated. The client wrote: "My cousin and I were the executors of a probate estate, and the property we had to sell was a complete mess, tons of complications, paperwork, and legal steps involved. Winston guided us through every part of the process with incredible patience, professionalism, and knowledge. He helped us before the sale, during the sale, and even after it closed, always responsive and supportive."

Richard M. Probate co-executor
★★★★★ Google
MB

Both parents passed. The brother chose Lane.

Lane handled the sale of a longtime HB property on behalf of adult children whose parents had both passed away. The client wrote: "My brother had the job of choosing a realtor to sell my parents' home after they both passed, and when Lane was given the job, I personally could not have been more pleased with all the work he did. He was always available to every question on any time of day to get back with us. He is definitely the realtor you need to have on your side."

Margaret B. Adult daughter, estate-side sale
★★★★★ Google
SS

Selling on behalf of a 91-year-old parent.

Scott and Philip listed and sold the longtime HB home of a 91-year-old client, coordinating with her adult daughter throughout. The daughter wrote: "Now they are selling my 91 year old Mother's house that she has lived in for over 40 years. Their sincerity, kindness, and understanding of this difficult time for my Mother has made the situation such a pleasant one. Thanks to their patience and honesty, she is reassured."

Sandra S. Adult daughter, on-behalf-of-aging-parent sale
★★★★★ Google

WHO YOU’D LIKELY WORK WITH

Add Your Heading Text Here

Portrait of Lane Stone
Probate & Trust Certified

Lane Stone

Principal & Broker Associate

Primary lead on most probate and trust engagements. Probate and Trust Certified. SRES. CNE.

Lane holds the Probate and Trust Certification from the National Association of Realtors, alongside SRES (Senior Real Estate Specialist) and CNE (Certified Negotiation Expert). He's handled estate-side listings, court-supervised probate sales, and trust administrations across coastal Orange County since 2012.

Before real estate, Lane worked at Washington Mutual and Chase Bank during the 2008 mortgage crisis. He speaks fluently to attorneys, CPAs, and family financial dynamics. That fluency matters when a transaction involves an estate.

He's the agent the family attorney usually wants on the property side. The most recent estate-side review in the team's bank reads, in part: "He was always available to every question on any time of day. He is definitely the realtor you need to have on your side."

Read Lane's full bio
Portrait of Winston Yeh
Probate Specialty

Winston Yeh

REALTOR®

Strong specialty in complicated probate sales. Patient with paperwork, court procedures, and family logistics.

Winston handles probate sales that have unusual complications: properties that need significant work, co-executors who live in different states, court-supervised processes with overbid procedures, and cases where the family needs more time than a standard transaction allows.

He's a Long Beach native, deeply familiar with both LA County and OC probate court dynamics. He deliberately keeps his client load small so that each estate engagement gets his full attention from start to finish.

The most-cited Winston review in the team's bank: "Winston guided us through every part of the process with incredible patience, professionalism, and knowledge. He helped us before the sale, during the sale, and even after it closed."

Read Winston's full bio

ALREADY WORKING WITH AN ATTORNEY?

We work alongside your attorney. Always.

We’ve worked with most of the estate and probate attorneys in coastal Orange County over the last 38 years. We know how to coordinate with them, share documents the way they expect, and stay in our lane.

Your attorney handles the legal proceedings, the court filings, the beneficiary communications on legal matters, and the estate tax work. We handle the property valuation, marketing, listing, showings, offers, negotiation, escrow, and closing. The line between the two is clear and we don’t cross it.

If your attorney would like to be cc’d on every property-side communication during the transaction, we set that up from the start. If they prefer to receive a weekly summary instead, we set that up. We work the way your attorney prefers.

No attourney yet?

We can refer you to estate attorneys we’ve worked with in coastal OC, sorted by complexity of situation, language preference, and proximity. The referral is free and there’s no commitment to use them.

Request an attorney referral →

TIMING

How long does an estate or probate sale take?

It depends on the type:

A trust sale typically takes 30–90 days from list to close, the same as a standard transaction. The trustee has authority to sell without court involvement, which keeps the timeline normal.

A probate sale typically takes 6–9 months from the initial filing to the final closing, depending on the complexity of the estate, whether the executor has full or limited authority under California’s Independent Administration of Estates Act, and whether a court confirmation hearing is required.

An estate-side sale (where the homeowner is still living, sometimes with adult children helping) follows standard sale timing: 30–90 days from list to close.

We give you a more specific timeline once we understand the documents and the situation.

COST

What does it cost?

The seller (the estate or trust) pays commission at closing as a percentage of the final sale price. The specific rate is set during our first conversation and depends on the listing price, the marketing investment, and the complexity of the estate.

There are no separate fees for the probate-specific or trust-specific work we do. The vendor coordination, attorney communication, court-procedure handling, family-meeting facilitation, and beneficiary communication are all included in the standard engagement.

If court-supervised overbid procedures are required and we run the bidding at the courthouse, that work is also included.

The commission is paid from the proceeds of the sale at closing, not out of pocket.

NOT READY TO TALK YET? START HERE.

The Coastal OC Estate Sale Guide

A plain-English guide for executors, trustees, and adult children selling a property as part of an estate or trust. Covers the difference between probate and trust sales, what to expect from each timeline, how to coordinate with your attorney, what to do before listing, and how to handle the property itself.

Written by Lane Stone, Probate and Trust Certified. Reviewed annually.

Get the guide.

No drip sequence. We send the guide and one follow-up email. That’s it.

FREQUENTLY ASKED

The questions we hear in every first probate or estate conversation.

These come up in nearly every first call we have on an estate or probate matter. Reading them here might save you a phone call or two.

Can I list the home before probate is complete?

In some cases yes, in some cases no. It depends on whether the executor has been granted authority by the court (typically through Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration), and whether that authority is full or limited under California’s Independent Administration of Estates Act.

If the executor has full authority, the property can usually be listed before probate concludes, with court confirmation requirements depending on the specifics. If the executor has limited authority, additional court steps are required.

Your attorney will tell you which applies. We work either way and we know the procedures for both paths.

Common situation. We’ve handled many sales where multiple beneficiaries needed to agree on price, timing, terms, or whether to sell at all. Our role is to provide the data (market analysis, comparable sales, expected proceeds) so the family decision is based on facts rather than guesses.

We can run family meetings, including via Zoom with out-of-state siblings. We can communicate with each sibling individually if family communication is strained. We can keep an attorney cc’d on everything if the family prefers a formal communication trail.

We don’t take sides in family disagreements. We make the property side of the decision clearer.

This is one of the most common questions in estate sales. The answer depends on the property, the market, the estate’s finances, and the timeline.

Some properties sell as-is for cash to investors and the estate avoids the time and money of repairs. Some properties benefit from $5K–$20K in targeted work that returns 3x to 5x at sale. Some properties need full pre-listing renovation and the estate has the resources to fund it.

We walk through the property with you, give you a realistic recommendation, and connect you with vetted contractors if work is warranted. We don’t push you toward more work than the sale will pay back.

Common situation. We coordinate showings around the tenant’s schedule, handle the legal notice requirements, and communicate respectfully with the tenant about the timing. Most tenants are reasonable when treated with respect.

If the estate or trust needs to deliver vacant possession, we help with the timing around lease end, relocation assistance if appropriate, and coordination with the attorney on any tenant-protection law compliance.

This is the most common executor situation we encounter. We’ve represented properties on behalf of executors in dozens of other states.

Phone, text, email, video walkthroughs, FaceTime showings. Documents handled electronically through DocuSign. Property visits handled by us with detailed photo and video reports back to you. Coordination with your local attorney handled via your preferred communication method.

A recent estate client wrote: “We just completed a real estate deal with Lane Stone, whom we never met. All our conversations were on the phone or via text and email.” That transaction closed cleanly. We can do the same for you.

Whatever cadence works for the family. Some families want a weekly written update with the property status, showing activity, and offers received. Some prefer a single email after major milestones. Some want every party cc’d on every communication.

We set the communication framework in the first conversation and follow it. If the framework needs to change later (a new sibling becomes involved, a beneficiary wants to be more or less involved), we adjust without disrupting the transaction.

The first conversation is for understanding. Nothing else.

Tell us where you are. We’ll listen, ask a few clarifying questions, and walk you through what the path forward might look like. There’s no commitment from that call, and there shouldn’t be.

Lane or a senior member of the team reaches out within one business day.

Call (714) 374-3535