What is probate in real estate? The court process that transfers a dead person's property when nothing else does. A house in probate is one whose title has to be moved by court order before it can be sold.
Probate is the court proceeding that settles a person's affairs after they die: it proves the will or applies the state's intestacy rules where there is none, appoints somebody to act, inventories the property, notifies creditors and gives them a window to file claims, pays the debts and taxes, and distributes what is left. A house is in probate when the person owned it in their own name and no other mechanism moves it. That is the whole test. It is a title problem rather than a condition problem, which is why a probate listing can be an immaculate house that simply cannot close yet.
Plenty of property never goes near it. A house held in joint tenancy with right of survivorship, or as community property with right of survivorship, passes to the survivor on a death certificate. A house titled in a living trust passes under the trust. A recorded transfer on death deed passes to the named beneficiary. Life insurance, retirement accounts and payable-on-death bank accounts pass to whoever is named on the form. All of those work by document. Probate is the residual process that catches whatever nothing else caught, which is usually the house of somebody who never got around to the paperwork.
The person appointed is the personal representative, called the executor when the will names them and the administrator when the court picks them. The court issues letters, and those letters are the document a title company and an escrow officer will ask for, because they are the proof that this person can sign a listing agreement and a deed. Depending on the route the estate is taking, selling the house may also require notice to interested parties or confirmation by the court; Nevada sets out the notice and procedure for sales of real property in a summary administration at NRS 145.070.
Nevada sorts estates by size and gives the smaller ones lighter routes. The court can set an estate aside without administration under NRS 146.070. It can allow assets to be collected on an affidavit, with no letters of administration and no probate of the will, under NRS 146.080, though that route is expressly closed where the deceased left real property in Nevada, so it is not a way to move a house. Summary administration under chapter 145 waives most of the regular proceedings for mid-sized estates. Everything above that is general administration. Each tier has a dollar threshold written into the statute, and the Legislature has moved those figures more than once, so the current numbers come from the statute itself or from a Nevada probate lawyer rather than from a page like this one.
A worked example
A man dies owning a house in his own name, a bank account with his daughter named payable on death, and a car. The account reaches her on a death certificate and never touches the court. The house and the car do, because nothing was recorded or filed naming anybody. She petitions, is appointed personal representative, and receives letters, which is the document escrow asks for before it will open a file. From there the calendar belongs to the creditors: notice is published and mailed, claims arrive on a statutory clock, and nothing is distributed until they are dealt with. She lists in month 3, takes an offer in month 4, and closes in month 7 after the notice on the sale runs. Two tax installments, 7 months of insurance and a roof repair came out of estate funds in between.
What it means when a house is in probate
Questions people ask
How long does probate take?
Months rather than weeks, and the creditor notice period sets the floor no matter how simple the estate is. A straightforward case with one house, a cooperative family and no claims often runs half a year to a year; a contested will, an unclear heir or a title defect turns that into years.
Can you sell a house that is in probate?
Yes, once somebody has authority to sign. The personal representative signs the listing agreement and the deed on the estate's behalf, and depending on which route the estate is taking the sale may also need notice to interested parties or a confirmation hearing before it can close.