What to do with a house after a parent dies

A short note before you start

This guide is general information for the United States, not legal, tax, financial or medical advice. Property, probate and tax rules differ by state, so confirm what matters for your situation with your state court's self-help site, a probate attorney or a CPA.

What should you do with the house in the first few days?

Focus on physical security and insurance, not on selling or transferring anything. You have no legal authority to sell or transfer the house until a court appoints an executor, unless it already passes outside probate through a trust, joint ownership, or a transfer-on-death deed.

1. Change or add locks if other people had keys, and ask a neighbor to keep an eye on the house.
2. Turn off water at the main shutoff if no one will check often, to prevent an unnoticed burst pipe.
3. Remove perishables, secure valuables and papers, and photograph the contents for the estate inventory. If your parent kept the deed, mortgage statements, insurance policy and utility numbers listed in one place, such as a family guide, this step takes minutes instead of days.
4. Call the homeowners insurer right away and ask what it needs to keep the policy active, such as a death certificate and, later, proof you are the executor.
5. Keep paying the mortgage, property taxes, and insurance premiums on schedule. A missed payment now is hard to undo later.

How do you insure a house that will sit empty?

An empty house is a different risk than an occupied one. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners notes that a vacant home is exposed to loss and liability a standard policy may not fully cover¹³. Ask the insurer whether the house counts as vacant, since many policies limit coverage after an extended empty stretch, and whether you need a vacant-home endorsement while the estate is open. Keep the insurance, mortgage, and property taxes current the whole time; unpaid property taxes can lead to a lien or tax sale independent of probate.

Who pays the mortgage after a parent dies, and can the lender call the loan due?

The mortgage does not go away when a parent dies. It is a debt secured by the house, and someone has to keep making payments or the lender can eventually foreclose. Federal law protects the heir from one specific risk: a lender cannot use the death itself as a reason to demand the full balance immediately.

Most mortgages contain a due-on-sale clause letting the lender call the loan due when the property changes hands. The Garn-St. Germain Depository Institutions Act of 1982 exempts several transfers from that clause, including "a transfer to a relative resulting from the death of a borrower" and "a transfer by devise, descent, or operation of law on the death of a joint tenant" (12 U.S.C. § 1701j-3(d), Cornell Law Legal Information Institute, checked 2026-09-20). In plain terms, a lender cannot accelerate the mortgage just because the borrower died and the house passed to a relative.

That protection does not make the mortgage effortless to take over. If you already hold title, CFPB rules do not require an ability-to-repay review before you take over the loan; you just prove your right to the house with a death certificate and the will, letters testamentary, or a letter from the executor². Once confirmed as a "successor in interest," you get the same servicing rights as the original borrower, including loan information and loss-mitigation options². In practice, servicers do not always cooperate: a 2024 CFPB issue spotlight found heirs reporting monthslong delays and pressure to refinance instead of assuming the loan, even with strong credit². If a servicer stalls, put the request in writing and ask for its successor-in-interest team by name.

If payments stop entirely, the lender can still foreclose; the Garn-St. Germain exception only removes the "due on death" trigger, it does not forgive the debt.

What happens to utilities and other recurring bills?

Utilities generally keep running on the existing account until someone calls to change or close them, so the real risk is a shutoff for nonpayment, not an automatic cutoff at death. USA.gov's guidance on reporting a death lists utilities among the accounts that need to be told, alongside banks and subscriptions¹². Call each one, explain that the account holder died, and either keep service in the estate's name or transfer it to whoever pays the bills. Keep electricity, and water if pipes could freeze, running while the house sits vacant, and review HOA dues, since unpaid dues create a lien.

How does the house pass title: through probate or otherwise?

Whether the house has to go through probate depends on how your parent held title, and that is set by state law, not a single national rule. Property can pass outside probate through a living trust, a transfer-on-death deed where the state allows one, or joint ownership with survivorship rights¹⁵. A house titled solely in the parent's name, with none of those arrangements, generally has to go through probate before it can be sold or the deed changed.

The Uniform Law Commission drafted a model transfer-on-death deed statute, adopted in some but not all states, that lets an owner name a beneficiary who receives the property automatically at death, without probate, while keeping full control during their lifetime¹⁴. Whether your parent's state offers this, and whether they used it, determines whether you face a deed transfer or a probate case.

If probate is required, the executor needs letters testamentary before a title company will close a sale or a recorder will accept a new deed. Many states also offer a small-estate shortcut for lower-value estates; since limits and forms are set state by state, confirm the current rules on your state court's self-help site. See probate courts by state and the executor checklist.

What is stepped-up basis, and how does it affect taxes if you sell?

The IRS generally values inherited property at its fair market value on the date of the owner's death, not what the parent originally paid. This "stepped-up basis" rule holds that "the basis of property inherited from a decedent is... the FMV of the property at the date of the individual's death" (also IRS, Topic no. 703, checked 2026-09-20)⁷.

In practice this usually means less capital gains tax than people expect. If a parent bought a house decades ago for $60,000 and it is worth $400,000 at death, an heir who sells soon after for close to $400,000 typically owes little or no federal capital gains tax, since the gain is measured from the roughly $400,000 stepped-up basis, not the original price. Get a professional appraisal dated close to the date of death; that figure is what a tax preparer will need later.

Two related points: the $250,000/$500,000 home sale exclusion differs from stepped-up basis and usually does not apply to heirs, since it requires living in the home as a main residence for two of the five years before sale⁷. And the federal estate tax rarely applies: for 2026 deaths it only kicks in above a $15,000,000 gross estate⁷, though some states have far lower thresholds. If you keep the house and sell later, only the gain since inheriting is taxed, and later improvements add to your basis, so keep receipts.

Should you sell the inherited house, or keep it?

It depends on the mortgage, whether other heirs have a stake, and how much work the house needs.

If heirs disagree, some states allow a court-ordered partition sale as a last resort; it is generally slower and pricier than reaching an agreement, so most families work it out first, with a mediator if needed.

Selling a deceased parent's house: what is different from a normal sale?

Listing and closing work the same as any home sale. What differs is who has legal authority to sign and what proof the title company requires.

1. Confirm your authority to sell. Probate generally requires letters testamentary; a trust or transfer-on-death deed lets the trustee or beneficiary act without probate.
2. Document the date-of-death value, ideally with a written appraisal, for the stepped-up basis calculation above.
3. Disclose known defects, the same as any seller.
4. Expect the title company to ask for the death certificate and court letters, and sometimes court approval of the sale.
5. Pay off the mortgage and liens at closing, then split proceeds among heirs and get signed receipts.

How long does this whole process typically take?

Timelines vary by state and by whether full probate is needed, but the table gives a general sense of the pace for a house passing to adult children.

The pace is driven mainly by each state's creditor-notice period and court scheduling, so treat this table as a planning range, not a promise¹⁵.

When to get professional help

Bring in a probate attorney when the will is missing or contested, heirs disagree about the house, the estate might be insolvent, or the title history is unclear. Bring in a CPA before selling if the house has appreciated significantly, the estate is near your state's estate tax threshold, or you are unsure how to document the date-of-death value. If a servicer stalls or pushes an unwanted refinance, put the request in writing and file a CFPB complaint if needed².