Sell Inherited Property in Washington, D.C.

• How the deed was titled usually decides whether the property goes through probate. A validly created joint tenancy, a tenancy by the entirety, a properly funded trust, or a recorded transfer-on-death deed can pass outside probate. Solely titled property, and a deceased co-owner’s share of a tenancy in common, generally require an estate.
• The $80,000 and $40,000 figures do not open a shortcut for a house. D.C. Code 20-351 sets an $80,000 ceiling for small-estate administration, but current D.C. Courts guidance treats an estate that includes D.C. real property as a large estate. The separate $40,000 affidavit cannot transfer real property at all (D.C. Code 20-361).
• An appointed personal representative can often sell during administration. Not every heir has to sign, as long as the property is still being administered, the representative has valid authority, the property was not specifically left to someone in the will, and no court order stands in the way (D.C. Code 20-741).
• D.C. has an estate tax but no inheritance tax for current deaths. For 2026 deaths a return is generally required only when the gross estate is $4,988,400 or more, and many estates that file still owe nothing after deductions.
• Tenant occupancy, co-ownership, mortgages, and liens can change your timeline. Each can affect how quickly a sale closes, and sometimes whether extra notice is required first.

Whether inherited property in Washington, D.C. needs probate depends on how the deed was titled at death. Some ownership forms move the property to a new owner automatically; others leave the decedent’s interest to be handled through an estate. Even when probate is avoided, a new owner usually still has post-death paperwork and a title review before selling.

• Sole ownership. Needs an estate opened. The property passes by will or intestacy, and a personal representative generally has to be appointed to clear title.
• Tenancy in common. Only the decedent’s fractional share is affected, and that share needs an estate to pass. The other cotenants keep their shares. This is the D.C. default for co-owners (D.C. Code 42-516).
• Joint tenancy with right of survivorship. Passes to the surviving owner outside probate, but only if the deed validly created survivorship, and the survivor still records the Recorder-required deed and tax package to clear title.
• Tenancy by the entirety. For spouses or registered domestic partners, passes to the survivor outside probate when it was expressly created (D.C. Code 42-516).
• Transfer-on-death deed. Passes to the named beneficiary outside probate if it was validly signed and recorded before death. The beneficiary still completes a confirmatory transfer and title work afterward.
• Trust. Passes under the trust outside probate, but only if the property was actually transferred into a valid trust and the trustee has authority.
• Property already distributed from an estate. If the estate closed and the heirs already hold title, there is nothing left to probate.

Which of the three routes applies to you?

• Nonprobate title: survivorship, a funded trust, or a valid recorded transfer-on-death deed. Complete the required title filings.
• D.C. real property still subject to administration: open a large estate and obtain personal-representative authority.
• Nonresident decedent with a representative appointed elsewhere: use the D.C. Foreign Estate Proceeding.

For how probate works as a process, see our guide to probate real estate.

Washington, D.C. is a common-law, separate-property jurisdiction with an estate tax and no inheritance tax for current deaths. Four District rules catch heirs off guard, and each is explained in full below.

• Tenancy in common is the default. Co-owned property is a tenancy in common unless the deed expressly creates a joint tenancy or a tenancy by the entirety, so marriage alone does not create survivorship (D.C. Code 42-516).
• Dower and curtesy are abolished. Marriage alone gives no automatic life estate or occupancy right in the deceased’s real estate (D.C. Code 19-102).
• Registered domestic partners are included with spouses throughout the intestacy, elective-share, and allowance statutes (D.C. Code 19-302, 19-115).
• There are no counties. Deeds and transfer-on-death deeds record with the Office of the Recorder of Deeds, and probate opens with the Register of Wills, so any instruction to “file with the county” is wrong.

Each D.C. ownership form determines whether the property passes through probate and who may act after death. The single most important rule is that survivorship is never assumed: it exists only when the deed expressly created it.

How D.C. title passes at death

A transfer-on-death deed must be signed, acknowledged, and recorded with the Recorder of Deeds before the owner dies, and it can be revoked only by a recorded revocation, a later recorded transfer-on-death deed, or a lifetime conveyance, never by will. Passing outside probate is not the same as passing with clean, insurable title: transfer-on-death and survivorship property can still carry mortgages, liens, a surviving co-owner’s rights, and in some cases estate claims, so a title company still reviews the chain, and clearing survivorship title generally takes a newly drafted deed and the Recorder’s tax package, not a death certificate alone.

For families planning ahead, see our guide to avoiding probate on real estate. For trust-held property, see selling a house in a trust after death.

When someone dies in Washington, D.C. without a will, the surviving spouse or registered domestic partner’s share depends on who else survives, and D.C. treats a registered domestic partner exactly as a spouse (D.C. Code 19-302). Real estate that is not disposed of by a will descends to the heirs in fee simple, and multiple heirs hold it as tenants in common (D.C. Code 19-301).

D.C. intestate shares for a surviving spouse or registered domestic partner

The last column shows what ownership could look like only if the house is distributed to the heirs in kind. During administration the personal representative may instead sell the property to pay debts, taxes, and expenses, so the shares describe value each person is entitled to, not a guarantee that everyone becomes a co-owner. After the spousal share, the surplus passes to children, then parents, then siblings, then more remote relatives (D.C. Code 19-302 and following). An heir must survive by at least 120 hours (D.C. Code 19-502), half-blood relatives inherit as whole-blood relatives, a child born after death still inherits, and the estate escheats to the District only if no relative within the fifth degree survives.

D.C. does not set one standard probate duration, and a property can often be sold before the estate closes once the personal representative has authority. A personal representative is D.C.’s term for the fiduciary many people call an executor when there is a will or an administrator when there is not, and letters of administration are the court-issued proof of that authority. Two separate questions decide how an estate proceeds: how it is opened, and how it is then administered.

How Long Does Probate Take in Washington, D.C.?

There is no single standard duration. The six-month creditor period after first publication is an important claims deadline, not necessarily a waiting period before the house can be listed or sold. A sale may happen earlier if the personal representative has authority and the title company can insure it, while a tax return, missing heirs, a dispute, or supervised accounting can keep an estate open longer.

Abbreviated Versus Formal Probate

Abbreviated and formal probate are two ways of opening an estate, not two levels of supervision. Abbreviated probate is the common route, where the Register of Wills can admit the will, or appoint a representative for an intestate estate, without prior notice (D.C. Code 20-311, 20-312). Formal probate, renamed from “standard probate” by recent reform, is used for harder cases such as a will offered as a copy, a contest, or a petitioner who is not first in priority, and it involves advance notice and publication (D.C. Code 20-321 through 20-331, 20-322).

Supervised Versus Unsupervised Administration

Supervised and unsupervised administration describe how much the court oversees the estate after it opens. Unsupervised is the norm, with reduced oversight but full fiduciary duties. Supervised administration adds continuing oversight when the will requires it or the court finds good cause (D.C. Code 20-401, 20-402). Supervision does not automatically require a separate court order for every sale; a supervised representative generally keeps the same powers unless the supervision order, the will, or a later court order restricts them.

Who Can Serve as Personal Representative in D.C.?

Priority to serve depends on whether there is a will (D.C. Code 20-303). The person named in an admitted will comes first. In an intestate estate, the surviving spouse, registered domestic partner, or children are in the next group. In a testate estate, the surviving spouse or registered domestic partner comes before the residuary legatees, with the decedent’s children later in the order. Heirs of an intestate decedent or legatees of a testate decedent may also nominate a personal representative in writing, which helps when the will named no one available.

What Are the Main D.C. Probate Steps and Deadlines?

An estate moves through a familiar sequence: file the petition and, if there is a will, offer it for probate; obtain appointment and letters; publish the notice of appointment and notify heirs and creditors; identify assets, liens, and claims; decide whether to keep, distribute, or sell the property; pay valid claims and expenses; then distribute and close. After the personal representative publishes the notice of appointment, creditors generally have six months from first publication to present claims, and recent reform reduced that publication to two successive weeks (D.C. Code 20-704). On what those claims can and cannot reach, see our guide to whether creditors can take inherited property. The property can often be sold before the estate formally closes, though unresolved claims and liens can affect timing and net proceeds. For how timelines run in practice, see our guide to how long it takes to sell inherited property.

What Does D.C. Probate Cost?

Probate costs include court filing fees that scale with estate value, publication costs paid to the newspapers, any bond the court requires unless it is waived, appraisal and title costs, attorney fees, and in some estates personal-representative compensation. Contested matters, supervised accounting, and title litigation add expense. Because these figures change and vary by case, confirm current filing and publication fees with the Probate Division for your estate.

For an inherited D.C. house, the small procedures usually do not reach real estate, so most inherited homes move through the large-estate process. The right path depends on how title was held, whether there is a will, and whether the asset is real property. If you are weighing an estate sale against a trust sale, see our comparison of a probate sale and a trust sale.

D.C. transfer path comparison

A D.C. house and the $80,000 and $40,000 rules. D.C. Code 20-351 sets an $80,000 ceiling for small-estate administration, and the separate small-asset affidavit is capped at $40,000. Neither is a reliable path for an inherited house. The affidavit expressly excludes any real-property interest (D.C. Code 20-361), and current D.C. Courts guidance classifies an estate that includes D.C. real property as a large estate regardless of value. Do not assume a low-value D.C. property qualifies for a small-estate shortcut without confirming the procedure with the Register of Wills or D.C. counsel. The D.C. Courts Probate Division estates page explains the small-estate and large-estate categories.

Example. A parent dies owning a D.C. rowhouse solely in their name, with no survivorship deed, funded trust, or transfer-on-death deed. Even if the equity is below $80,000, current D.C. Courts guidance treats an estate involving the rowhouse as a large-estate matter. After appointment, the personal representative may be able to list and sell the rowhouse while the six-month creditor claim period continues.

In Washington, D.C., a surviving spouse or registered domestic partner is protected mainly through monetary allowances and an elective share, not an automatic right to the home. Because dower and curtesy are abolished, whether the survivor keeps the house turns on the deed, the will, and intestacy. For the wider picture, see our guide to selling a house after the death of a spouse.

Does a Surviving Spouse or Domestic Partner Automatically Own the Home?

Not automatically. If the deed created survivorship through a validly created joint tenancy or a tenancy by the entirety, the survivor already owns the home outside probate. If not, the home passes under the will or by intestacy, and the survivor’s rights are the allowances and the elective share below.

D.C. Probate Allowances

D.C. gives a surviving spouse or registered domestic partner three allowances, all raised by recent reform: a homestead allowance of $30,000 (D.C. Code 19-101.02), an exempt-property allowance of up to $20,000 (D.C. Code 19-101.03), and a family allowance up to $30,000 for maintenance during administration (D.C. Code 19-101.04, 19-101.05). These are paid primarily from personal property and rank ahead of most creditor claims. None transfers the house or creates a life estate. Children also have rights: if no spouse or registered domestic partner survives, minor and dependent children can share the homestead allowance, surviving children can have rights to exempt property subject to the will-related limit, and minor children or children the decedent supported can share the family allowance.

The Elective Share

Where there is a will, a surviving spouse or registered domestic partner may renounce what the will leaves them and instead take the legal share, which is the intestate share capped at one-half of the net estate bequeathed and devised by the will (D.C. Code 19-113). The renunciation must be filed within six months after the will is admitted, and the court can grant extensions of up to six months for reasonable cause. A valid premarital or postmarital agreement can waive or change these rights. Because the result depends on the will and the estate, a surviving spouse or partner should get advice from a licensed D.C. attorney before electing.

The Property-Tax Homestead Deduction Is a Separate Thing

The word “homestead” carries two unrelated meanings in D.C. The probate homestead allowance above is a dollar amount paid to a survivor. The Homestead Deduction administered by the Office of Tax and Revenue is a property-tax benefit on an owner-occupied home. An heir who moves into an inherited D.C. home and wants that property-tax benefit going forward should confirm current eligibility and filing steps with the Office of Tax and Revenue, since it does not carry over automatically on a change of owner.

Selling an inherited D.C. property can involve a District estate tax at the top end, income tax on any gain when the property is sold, and two separate transfer and recordation taxes at closing, plus any liens that must be cleared. Most estates owe no D.C. estate tax. For the national picture, see our complete guide to inherited property taxes.

Does D.C. Have an Estate or Inheritance Tax?

D.C. has an estate tax and no inheritance tax for current deaths. For deaths in 2026 a return is generally required only when the gross estate is $4,988,400 or more, and it is generally due within ten months of death. A filing requirement is not the same as tax owed, because deductions, including the marital deduction, can reduce or eliminate it. For a nonresident who owned D.C. real estate, the District taxes the D.C.-situated portion of the estate on a ratio basis. Anyone near the threshold should have the return reviewed by a tax professional. See the D.C. Office of Tax and Revenue estate-tax page for current forms and figures.

Income Tax and Basis When the Property Is Sold

Federal rules determine the starting basis, generally a step up to fair market value at the date of death, and the taxable gain is measured against that basis. Whether D.C. income tax applies depends on who sells and their status: a D.C. resident, a nonresident individual, an estate, a trust, or a business can each have different filing consequences, and depreciation on a former rental can add recapture. The gain is not simply ordinary D.C. income in every case. For how the federal step up works, see our guide to capital gains tax on inherited property.

D.C. Transfer and Recordation Taxes at Closing

D.C. imposes two separate taxes on a real estate transfer: a recordation tax and a transfer tax, each generally 1.1% of price below $400,000 and 1.45% at or above $400,000 (D.C. Code 42-1103 and Title 47). Combined, that is roughly 2.2% or 2.9% of the sale price before exemptions. The purchase contract commonly allocates these costs between the parties, but that allocation does not necessarily change statutory liability to the District if the tax is unpaid. Deeds with no or nominal consideration can be taxed on fair market value, and cooperative interests and long-term leaseholds follow additional rules. Separately, when a personal representative distributes property to the heirs rather than selling it, the recordation cost of that distribution deed is an administration expense (D.C. Code 20-1103).

Liens and Claims That Can Delay a Closing

A sale can be slowed or reduced by what is owed against the property and the estate: the mortgage or deed-of-trust payoff, real-property tax liens, judgment liens, condominium or homeowners-association balances, funeral and administration expenses, valid estate creditor claims, and any D.C. Medicaid estate-recovery claim, which can reach a deceased beneficiary’s estate subject to survivor protections and hardship rules. For more, see our guides to debts and liens on inherited property, inheriting a house with a mortgage, and whether Medicaid can take an inherited house.

Often yes, once a personal representative is appointed, but not automatically. A D.C. personal representative has statutory power to sell estate real property by public or private sale (D.C. Code 20-741), and in unsupervised administration that usually does not require advance court approval. The power does not extend to property specifically left to a named person in the will, and it can be limited by the will, a bond condition, a supervision order, or another court order, and the representative owes fiduciary duties as to price.

Do All Heirs Have to Agree?

It depends on whether the property is still being administered or has already been distributed.

• The property remains subject to estate administration. An authorized personal representative may have authority to control and sell it without every heir’s signature, subject to the will, specific devises, court restrictions, and fiduciary duties.
• The property has been distributed and administration no longer controls the sale. The current titled owners generally must sign unless a court proceeding supplies another remedy.

Any interested person, such as an heir or beneficiary, can also ask the court under D.C. Code 20-703 to set the order in which estate property is sold. That is an order-of-sale proceeding, not a blanket veto, but once such a motion is filed the personal representative cannot proceed with the affected property until there is notice, a hearing, and a court determination.

Who Signs What

Three signatures come up in an estate sale, and they can involve different people: someone signs the listing agreement, someone accepts the purchase contract, and someone signs the deed at closing, and the title company decides what it needs before it will insure. When the property is being administered, that is usually the appointed personal representative; once title has passed to the heirs, it is the owners themselves. A broker can identify that authority needs to be resolved and coordinate the transaction, while the estate’s attorney and settlement or title company determine what authority and documents are legally sufficient. See our guide to what a personal representative needs to do to sell inherited property.

When Selling Makes Sense, and When to Slow Down

Whether to sell is a personal and financial decision. Heirs often sell when the estate needs cash for claims or taxes, when several heirs would rather have cash than share ownership, when the property sits vacant and runs up expenses, when the heir lives outside D.C., or when a mortgage or tax delinquency creates time pressure. It is worth slowing down when title or authority is unresolved, when the estate-tax or basis consequences have not been reviewed, when a tenant-sale process may apply, or when a co-heir dispute is unresolved. On the choice itself, listing with an agent may produce greater market exposure and a higher gross offer, at the cost of preparation and a less certain closing date; selling as-is may reduce preparation and financing uncertainty in exchange for a lower price; and keeping, renting, or a co-heir buyout preserves the asset but may require refinancing, management, and agreement among the owners. See our guides to carrying costs on inherited property, selling an inherited property as-is, and whether to sell or rent an inherited property.

To sell an inherited D.C. property, the title company needs proof that whoever signs the deed has authority, and what that takes depends on how the property is passing. The signer is the personal representative for estate property, the trustee for trust property, the surviving owner for survivorship property, the beneficiary for transfer-on-death property, and the heirs once the estate has distributed the property to them.

Who signs and what records to clear D.C. title

Before you list, gather your documents in five groups: authority documents (letters of administration or the foreign appointment, the will, any trust); title and death documents (the recorded deed, the death certificate, and for transfer-on-death property a newly drafted confirmatory deed with the recorded transfer-on-death information, the applicable tax form, and a copy of the recorded deed, subject to current Recorder and title-company requirements); debt and tax records (mortgage statement, property-tax bill, any lien notices); occupancy and association records (leases, rent and deposit records, and any condo or homeowners-association statement); and valuation and basis records (a date-of-death appraisal or defensible valuation, records of major improvements, and prior depreciation records if the property was rented). For a full list, see our guide to documents you need to sell inherited property.

Before you list: stabilize the property. Confirm insurance still covers the home after death or vacancy, secure the property and control the keys, keep necessary utilities on, check mortgage, tax, condo, and code balances, preserve any tenant deposits and leases, obtain authority before removing personal property, and get a realistic as-is and prepared-sale value. An unoccupied D.C. building can require vacant-property registration with the Department of Buildings and face sharply higher vacant or blighted tax rates, though a property tied up in a probate proceeding may qualify for an exemption, so confirm the current rule if the home will sit empty.

A Note on Condominiums and Cooperatives

Not every inherited D.C. residence is a fee-simple house. Condominiums come with association balances, special assessments, resale packages, and sometimes right-of-first-refusal provisions. A cooperative interest can require board approval or compliance with a proprietary lease, and its transfer-tax treatment can differ from a deeded house. If the inherited asset is a condo, a co-op, or a long-term leasehold, confirm the association or board requirements and the tax treatment early. See our guide to selling inherited property in an HOA.

If the person who died lived outside Washington, D.C. but owned D.C. real estate, the estate usually still has to be handled in the District, though D.C. offers a streamlined path rather than a full second appointment in every case. A personal representative already appointed elsewhere can file authenticated copies of the appointment and the will with the D.C. Register of Wills and then act on the D.C. property, without a separate D.C. appointment (D.C. Code 20-341 through 20-344). The Probate Division calls this a Foreign Estate Proceeding. It is a filing and notice process, not an instant transfer.

Filing authority and sale timing are two different things. Once the foreign representative has filed and published, they can transfer or lease the D.C. property after first publication by posting a bond equal to the property’s value, or wait out the claim period and proceed if no unresolved claims remain. Notice runs once a week for two successive weeks, and for real property creditors generally have six months from first publication. A recorded, unreleased claim can act as a lien on D.C. real property for twelve years from death, or attach to the net sale proceeds when the representative is empowered to sell, and if the foreign representative fails to act within a reasonable time, the court can direct the transfer. D.C. taxes the D.C.-situated portion of a nonresident’s estate, and the income-tax treatment of any gain depends on the seller’s residency and status.

A local broker can coordinate access, condition assessments, vendors, showings, and settlement logistics for an heir who cannot manage the property in person. See our guides to ancillary probate and how to sell inherited property from out of state.

If the inherited D.C. property has a tenant, simply inheriting it usually does not trigger the tenant-purchase process, because a transfer from a decedent’s estate to a qualifying family member, heir, or legatee is excluded from the definition of a sale under the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act, as clarified by the 2025 RENTAL Act (D.C. Law 26-80). A later sale by that heir to an outside buyer is a separate transaction that must be analyzed on its own.

Beyond that, applicability depends on the building. A one-unit rental is broadly exempt from the full purchase process, though a Notice of Transfer or similar duty can still apply, and a limited grandfathered exception can preserve modified purchase rights for certain elderly tenants or tenants with disabilities who meet the statute’s older lease and occupancy requirements, so review the tenant file before assuming the exemption. Two-to-four-unit properties follow more involved requirements, and current treatment can turn partly on whether the property is majority-owned by a business corporation. Buildings of five or more units carry the fullest process, and a separate District Opportunity to Purchase Act review can apply to qualifying larger affordable properties. The Department of Housing and Community Development, through its Rental Conversion and Sale Division, administers these processes and the related forms; the Office of the Tenant Advocate can also be a resource for a tenant.

Because these rules are fact-specific and were recently updated, confirm how they apply to your building with a D.C. attorney or the settlement company before you set a timeline. Existing leases, deposits, rent records, and occupancy rights travel with the property. See our guide to inherited property with tenants.

When several heirs inherit a D.C. property as tenants in common and cannot agree, D.C. law gives them a structured way out, and since 2023 that process favors buyouts and fair-value sales over a quick auction. Before a court gets involved, co-owners can order an appraisal, put a written buyout offer on the table, refinance to fund a buyout, agree to a sale and a split of proceeds, or use mediation. See our guide to selling inherited property with siblings. If a co-heir is living in the property and will not leave or sell, see what to do when one sibling lives in an inherited house.

If co-owners still cannot agree, the District’s Partition of Real Property Act of 2022 governs a court partition and is designed to protect co-owners from a forced fire-sale (D.C. Code 16-2931 and following). When one cotenant asks the court to sell, the court first determines fair market value, and the other cotenants get 45 days to buy out the requesting owner’s share at that value. If no one buys, the court prefers to divide the property physically unless that would cause great prejudice, and only then orders a sale, which is normally an open-market sale handled through a real estate broker rather than a courthouse auction. A personal representative selling an estate asset is a different situation from cotenants seeking partition after the property has passed to them. See our guide to whether a sibling can force the sale of inherited property.

D.C. modernized several probate rules in the past two years. The items below are current as of the verified date on this page, and because a few provisions carry temporary or emergency notes, the specific expiration on any single Code section should be checked before you rely on it.

• 2025 probate reform. The Strengthening Probate Administration Amendment Act of 2024 (D.C. Law 25-302), effective March 21, 2025, raised the statutory small-estate ceiling to $80,000, raised the homestead and family allowances to $30,000 and the exempt-property allowance to up to $20,000, renamed “standard probate” as “formal probate,” cut notice publication from three weeks to two, and let heirs nominate a personal representative in writing.
• A house is generally a large estate. The statute sets an $80,000 ceiling, but current D.C. Courts guidance treats an estate that includes D.C. real property as a large estate (D.C. Code 20-351), and the separate $40,000 affidavit cannot transfer real property at all (D.C. Code 20-361).
• 2025 tenant-purchase change. The RENTAL Act (D.C. Law 26-80) clarified how the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act treats an estate’s transfer to heirs and adjusted several exemptions, so a tenant-occupied sale should be checked against current rules.
• 2026 estate-tax filing threshold. A D.C. estate-tax return is generally required only when the gross estate is $4,988,400 or more for 2026 deaths, and the figure is indexed each year.