Date of Death Appraisals in Riverside, San Bernardino and the Inland Empire: Commercial Property, Warehouses and Land in Estates and Trusts

Inland Empire families hold all kinds of real estate in trusts: a warehouse in Ontario or Fontana, a strip center in Riverside or Corona, a small apartment building in San Bernardino, a motel on Route 66 in the High Desert, acreage in Perris or the Menifee valley, a vineyard in Temecula wine country, a commercial building in Palm Desert. A lot of that land and those buildings were bought decades ago, before the region’s warehouse boom. When the owner dies, the first number the trustee, the executor and the CPA all need is what each property was worth on the date of death. Our statewide guide to date-of-death appraisals covers the basics, and our commercial property appraisal page covers how a commercial report is built. This page covers what is different when the property is in Riverside or San Bernardino County.

When does an Inland Empire estate or trust need a date-of-death appraisal?

Most of the time when the property is commercial, multifamily, land or income-producing. Common reasons:

• Stepped-up basis. Under Internal Revenue Code Section 1014(a), property acquired from a decedent generally takes a basis equal to its fair market value at the date of death. Section 1014(b)(6) also covers the surviving spouse’s half of California community property, if at least half of the community interest was includible in the decedent’s gross estate. For industrial land bought in the 1980s or a center bought in the 1990s, the gap between the old basis and the date-of-death value can be large, so the CPA needs a supported number.
• Estate tax returns. For larger estates, the value of each property goes on the return. Under Section 2032, the executor can elect to value the estate as of six months after death instead, but only if the election lowers both the gross estate and the tax. That can mean two values for the same property.
• Trust administration. A successor trustee dividing or selling property needs values to treat beneficiaries fairly and to report to them. See trust administration appraisals.
• Equalizing shares. One child keeps the Riverside retail building, another takes the High Desert acreage and a third takes cash. A value for every property, on the same date, is what makes that split fair.
• Property tax. Reassessment, the parent-child exclusion and any appeal of the new value all turn on the date of death and the value on that date (see below).
• Disputes. Heirs, trustees and creditors sometimes disagree about value. An independent, well-supported report keeps the conversation on the evidence.

General information, not legal or tax advice. Your attorney or CPA decides which values you need.

Where are probate cases filed in Riverside and San Bernardino counties?

In the superior court of the county where the decedent lived. The two counties cover a lot of ground: Riverside County describes itself as more than 7,300 square miles with about 2.4 million residents, in 28 cities, and San Bernardino County covers 20,105 square miles with 24 incorporated cities.

• Riverside County: the court lists three probate court locations: Riverside, 4050 Main Street; Palm Springs, 3255 East Tahquitz Canyon Way; and the Southwest Justice Center, 30755-D Auld Road, Murrieta. The court’s Where to File rules decide which location handles a case.
• San Bernardino County: the court says decedents’ estates, trusts and conservatorships are filed and heard at the Fontana and Victorville Districts, with the Needles District hearing a limited set of probate case types in its area.

In a formal probate, the personal representative must file an inventory and appraisal within four months after letters are first issued, unless the court allows more time (Probate Code Section 8800). Under Section 8902, the court-appointed probate referee appraises the real property in the inventory. That referee value serves the court’s inventory. Trustees, heirs and CPAs often still order an independent narrative appraisal for basis, for dividing property or for a dispute. We do not act as a probate referee. We provide independent appraisals to trustees, executors, heirs and their attorneys and CPAs.

Many Inland Empire estates never see a courtroom because the property was held in a living trust. Then there is no referee, and the successor trustee needs values on their own.

Why does the date of death decide Prop 58 or Prop 19?

Because the date of death is the date of the change in ownership. The State Board of Equalization’s Prop 19 guidance says the law in effect on the date of death applies, including when a revocable trust becomes irrevocable at death. That matters for exactly the kind of property Inland Empire families tend to hold: land and buildings owned for decades, with a Prop 13 base year value far below what the property is worth today.

• Date of death on or before February 15, 2021 (Prop 58). A parent could transfer to a child, without reassessment, the principal residence with no value limit plus other real property up to a lifetime limit of $1,000,000 of factored base year value per transferor. Long-held acreage or a small commercial building with a low base could fit under that limit.
• Date of death on or after February 16, 2021 (Prop 19). The parent-child exclusion is limited to a family home or a family farm, with a value limit, and Prop 19 eliminates it for other real property. An inherited warehouse, retail building or apartment building generally gets a new base year value at its market value as of the date of death.

For a family farm, grove or vineyard, Revenue and Taxation Code Section 63.2 applies the exclusion separately to each legal parcel, so a Temecula vineyard or a Coachella Valley farm on several parcels can need a value for each one. See farm and ranch appraisals with several parcels.

Under Revenue and Taxation Code Section 480, the change in ownership statement for a death (BOE-502-D) is due within 150 days after the date of death, or, if the estate is probated, when the inventory and appraisal is filed. If the assessor’s new value looks too high, a supported date-of-death appraisal is the evidence for an appeal. For 2026, the State Board of Equalization lists November 30, 2026 as the end of the regular assessment appeal filing period in both Riverside and San Bernardino counties. See property tax appeal appraisals.

General information, not legal or tax advice. Confirm how Prop 58 or Prop 19 applies, and your deadlines, with your attorney, your CPA or the Assessment Appeals Board.

What Inland Empire issues change a value as of the date of death?

A date-of-death appraisal has to read the property as it was on that date. In Riverside and San Bernardino counties, these come up again and again:

• The warehouse rule, and when it started. South Coast AQMD Rule 2305, the warehouse indirect source rule adopted May 7, 2021, applies to owners and operators of warehouses with 100,000 square feet or more of indoor floor space in a single building. Owners file a Warehouse Operations Notification, and operators earn WAIRE Points each year through the district’s menu of actions, a custom plan or a mitigation fee. For a big box in Ontario, Fontana, Rialto, Moreno Valley or Perris, whether the rule was in effect on the date of death, and how the building and its tenant were set up for it, is part of the picture a buyer would have seen.
• The industrial market on that exact date. Inland Empire land and warehouse values have moved a great deal over the years. A distribution building valued as of a 2015 date of death and the same building valued as of a 2023 date of death are two different appraisals, built on two different sets of sales and leases. A retrospective value uses only what was known or knowable on the date.
• Habitat conservation on western Riverside County land. Private land inside a criteria cell of the Western Riverside County Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan, cells of roughly 160 acres in a plan that aims to conserve 500,000 acres for 146 species, goes through a review called HANS when it is proposed for development. For an estate holding raw acreage in places like Perris, Menifee, Lake Elsinore or Wildomar, whether the land sat in a criteria cell on the date of death affects what a buyer could have done with it.
• Williamson Act farmland. A Williamson Act contract limits land to agricultural and compatible uses for the life of the contract and binds future owners (Government Code Section 51243). Contracts run at least 10 years and renew each year unless a notice of nonrenewal is served (Section 51244). Whether a contract was in place, or in nonrenewal, on the date of death matters for groves and farmland in both counties. Agriculture is a real part of the economy here: Riverside County’s 2024 crop report puts the county’s gross agricultural value at $1,768,506,000.
• Wildfire on the date. The 2024 Line Fire burned 43,978 acres in San Bernardino County north of Highland, and the 2024 Airport Fire burned 23,526 acres across Orange and Riverside counties. A property valued as of a date before a fire is valued as it was then; one valued after is valued with any damage and the market’s reaction in place.
• Rent rules for apartments. Outside cities with their own rent ordinances, most rent increase limits come from state law in Civil Code Section 1947.12. For an apartment building held for years, how far in-place rents sat below market on the date of death, and which rules applied to each unit, shapes the value.
• Leases and occupancy on the date. A center that was half vacant on the date of death, or a warehouse with a below-market lease and years left on it, is valued that way, even if it is full at a higher rent today.
• Many markets in two counties. A Chino industrial building, a Riverside office building, a Victorville motel, a Hemet fourplex and a Palm Desert retail building do not trade the same way. Comparable sales have to come from the right submarket and the right time. See our Inland Empire commercial appraisal page and our Temecula and Murrieta page for the property types we see across the region.

Can the appraisal be done years after the date of death?

Yes, and it often is. Trusts can take a long time to settle, and sometimes nobody orders an appraisal until a property is about to be sold, a sibling wants to be bought out or a dispute starts. A retrospective appraisal uses the sales, leases and market conditions that were known or knowable as of the date of death. What helps most is anything that shows the property as it was then: the rent roll and leases in place, operating statements, photos, and records of repairs, permits or entitlements.

What should you send the appraiser?

• The exact date of death and, if there is one, the probate case number and county
• The purpose: basis, estate tax return, trust administration, division among heirs, a Prop 58 or Prop 19 matter, or a dispute
• A list of every property with address, APN and property type, in the Inland Empire and anywhere else in California
• Rent rolls, leases and operating statements from around the date of death
• For large warehouses: building size, the tenant and any WAIRE filings you have
• For land: parcel maps, zoning, any entitlements, habitat conservation or HANS correspondence, and water and utility information
• For farms, groves and vineyards: the parcels, planted acreage, water source and any Williamson Act contract
• Any prior appraisals, purchase contracts, offers or assessor notices
• The attorney or CPA on the estate, and who else will rely on the report

Your appraiser will confirm the exact list on the first call.

How do Inland Empire trustees, attorneys and CPAs work with PM Appraisal?

You call (805) 990-9700 and talk to the appraiser who will inspect the properties and write the reports. No coordinator and no AMC portal. We pick up the phone, and we are your ears and eyes on the property. Our team is based in San Diego County, next door to southwest Riverside County, and the appraiser inspects the properties in person. Rush commercial appraisals take 5 to 7 business days. Standard timing depends on the property and scope, so call for a timeline on your assignment.

Our opinions are independent. We never take an assignment that requires a predetermined value, and our value conclusion is never tied to the result anyone wants. If heirs or trustees are on opposite sides, tell us at engagement who the client is and who will rely on the report.

Date-of-death work is one example of what we do. PM Appraisal is a family-owned California appraisal firm with about 40 years of work across the state. We appraise every commercial property type, from office, retail, industrial, warehouse and multifamily to gas stations, hotels and motels, land, vineyards, medical, care facilities and special-use property, and every kind of commercial appraisal: estate and trust, divorce, retroactive, partition, partner and LLC buyouts, fractional interests, eminent domain, tax appeal, lending and consulting. If the estate holds property in several counties, see multi-property portfolio appraisals and our pages for San Diego, Orange County and Los Angeles. Other county guides: date of death appraisal in Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego, Sacramento and the Bay Area. See all services.

This article is general information, not legal or tax advice. Talk to your attorney or CPA about your estate, your trust and your situation.

Keep reading

• Date of death appraisals
• Commercial appraisal in the Inland Empire
• Commercial appraisal in Temecula and Murrieta
• Date of death appraisal in California: a guide
• Trust administration appraisals in California
• Land appraisals in California
• Retroactive appraisals
• Commercial property appraisal
• Estate and trust appraisals

This article is general information, not legal or tax advice. Talk to your attorney or CPA about your situation.