California: Inheritance Disclaimer and Renunciation Requirements

Requirements one by one

Governing law and covered interests

California Probate Code Part 8, §§ 260 through 295, governs disclaimers of
testamentary and other interests. Section 267 reaches real and personal, legal and
equitable, whole and fractional interests and powers over property. Its examples
include wills, intestacy, trusts, inter vivos gifts, insurance and annuities, joint
tenancy, employee-benefit plans, retirement accounts, transfer-on-death deeds, and
other testamentary, inter vivos, or operation-of-law interests.

Whole, partial, and conditional disclaimer

Probate Code § 275 permits a beneficiary to disclaim an interest in whole or in part. Part 8
does not separately authorize a general conditional-disclaimer form.

Writing or record and required contents

Under § 278, the disclaimer must be a writing signed by the disclaimant. It must
identify the creator of the interest, describe the interest being refused, and state
both the disclaimer and its extent. Part 8 states no original-document requirement.

Signature, witnesses, acknowledgment, and notary

The basic execution rule is the disclaimant's signature. Section 278 states no witness,
acknowledgment, oath, or notarization requirement. A different formality applies only
when the person chooses § 280(b)'s real-property recording route: the disclaimer must
then be acknowledged and proved like a real-property grant.

State deadline, irrevocability, and federal-tax overlay

California's actual state rule is reasonable time after the person able to disclaim
learns of the interest. Section 279 then creates conclusive nine-month presumptions,
with different triggers:

• Listed interests passing at death use the later of the creator's death or indefeasible
  vesting.
• Living trusts, inter vivos gifts, powers, and interests arising from another disclaimer
  use the latest of the listed creation event, first knowledge, or indefeasible vesting.
• Other interests use the later of first knowledge or indefeasible vesting.
• A future estate uses the later of nine months after possession or the otherwise
  applicable safe-harbor time.

Missing a presumption is not automatically fatal. The disclaimant then bears the burden
of proving filing within a reasonable time after knowledge. Section 281 makes the
disclaimer irrevocable when effective. Probate Code § 295 separately recognizes a disclaimer
or transfer treated under federal law as never transferred to the beneficiary. The
federal definition in 26 U.S.C. § 2518(b) has its own nine-month receipt and other tax
conditions.

Delivery, filing, and recipient

Section 280(a) allows filing with any one of four routes: the proper superior court;
the trustee, personal representative, another fiduciary, or the person responsible for
distribution; a person with custody, possession, or legal title; or the creator of the
interest. Part 8 does not specify personal delivery, mail, e-filing, receipt timing, or
an original-and-copy split.

Real-property recording and notice

Section 280(b) allows a disclaimer affecting real property or a real-property-secured
obligation to be recorded like a real-property grant if it is acknowledged and proved
in the same manner. California's general recording and nonrecording rules then apply
with like effect. The section also protects transactions involving the property when
the disclaimer is recorded through that route even if no separate § 280(a) filing was
made. Section 280 does not itself name a county office or state a standalone legal-
description requirement.

Acceptance, transfer, insolvency, and creditor bars

Section 285 closes the disclaimer route after acceptance. Acceptance includes a
voluntary assignment, conveyance, encumbrance, pledge, transfer, or contract; written
waiver; acceptance of the interest or a benefit; and judicial sale. One California-
specific exception matters: a gratuitous transfer of the beneficiary's entire interest
to the same people who would receive it after an otherwise qualified disclaimer does
not count as acceptance.

Part 8 states no insolvency bar. Section 281 makes an effective disclaimer binding on
creditors, and current § 283 says the disclaimer is not a voidable transfer under the
Uniform Voidable Transactions Act.

Effective date and destination

The creator's express provision for a disclaimed interest controls. Without one,
§ 282 generally treats a present-interest disclaimant as having predeceased the creator
and a future-interest disclaimant as having died before the event that finally
ascertains the taker and indefeasibly vests the interest. The disclaimer relates back
to the creator's death or the determining event. Subsection (b) preserves the listed
generation-level rules rather than applying deemed predecease for those purposes.

What trips people up

Nine months is a conclusive state safe harbor, not California's only validity rule.
The operative standard is reasonable time after knowledge. Outside a safe harbor, the
person disclaiming carries the burden of proof.

A notary is not part of every disclaimer. Acknowledgment and proof belong to the
optional real-property recording route, not § 278's basic execution requirements.

The filing list is broad but not method-specific. Section 280 names permissible
recipients; it does not supply certified-mail, personal-service, e-mail, or receipt-
date rules.

Common questions

Can I still disclaim after nine months? Possibly under state law, if the filing was
within a reasonable time after knowledge and the person can prove that. Federal tax
qualification is a separate question with its own deadline.

Can I transfer the property to the same people instead? Section 285 has a narrow
exception for a gratuitous transfer of the entire interest to the people who would have
taken after an otherwise qualified disclaimer. Other transfers can constitute
acceptance and bar a later disclaimer.

Can I choose who receives the property? No. The creator's instrument controls first;
otherwise § 282 supplies the destination rules.

Statutes and sources

• Cal. Prob. Code § 267 — current covered-interest definition, including TOD deeds.
  http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/15-16/bill/asm/ab_0101-0150/ab_139_bill_20150921_chaptered.htm
  (accessed 2026-08-16)
• Cal. Prob. Code § 260 — Part 8 construction in the official 1990 enactment.
  https://clerk.assembly.ca.gov/sites/clerk.assembly.ca.gov/files/archive/Statutes/1990/90Vol1_Chapters.pdf
  (accessed 2026-08-16)
• Cal. Prob. Code §§ 275, 278, 280-282, 295 — whole/part authority, writing
  and contents, filing routes, recording, irrevocability, destination, and
  federal-law recognition in the official 1990 enactment.
  https://clerk.assembly.ca.gov/sites/clerk.assembly.ca.gov/files/archive/Statutes/1990/90Vol1_Chapters.pdf
  (accessed 2026-08-16)
• Cal. Prob. Code § 279 — current reasonable-time rule and asset-specific safe harbors.
  http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/15-16/bill/asm/ab_0101-0150/ab_139_bill_20150921_chaptered.htm
  (accessed 2026-08-16)
• Cal. Prob. Code § 285 — current acceptance and transfer rules.
  https://clerk.assembly.ca.gov/sites/clerk.assembly.ca.gov/files/archive/Statutes/1994/1994_Vol_3.pdf
  (accessed 2026-08-16)
• Cal. Prob. Code § 283 — current Uniform Voidable Transactions Act wording.
  http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/15-16/bill/sen/sb_0151-0200/sb_161_bill_20150702_chaptered.htm
  (accessed 2026-08-16)
• 26 U.S.C. § 2518(b) — separate federal qualified-disclaimer requirements.
  https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2024-title26/html/USCODE-2024-title26-subtitleB-chap12-subchapB-sec2518.htm
  (accessed 2026-08-16)