About Proposition 19 in Marin County & You
Quick Answer: Proposition 19 lets California homeowners who are 55 or older, severely disabled, or displaced by wildfire or natural disaster transfer their low property tax base to a replacement home anywhere in the state, up to three times. It also reassesses most inherited homes to market value unless the child moves in within one year of the parent's death and files the required claims on time. For transfers between February 16, 2025 and February 15, 2027, the inherited-home exclusion is capped at the old assessed value plus $1,044,586, per the State Board of Equalization. I'm Kyle Frazier — a Marin broker with a JD who has personally served as trustee or executor five times — and this page covers how both halves of Prop 19 actually play out in Marin County transactions.
Key Takeaways
Proposition 19 changed California property taxes in two directions at once. It expanded portability: homeowners who are 55 or older, severely disabled, or victims of wildfire or Governor-declared natural disaster can now transfer the taxable value of their principal residence to a replacement home anywhere in California. And it narrowed inheritance: the broad parent-child exclusion that existed under Propositions 58 and 193 is gone, replaced by a limited exclusion that applies only to a family home a child actually moves into.
Both halves matter in Marin more than in most counties, because the gap between long-held assessed values and current market values here is enormous. A home purchased in Novato in the 1980s may carry an assessed value under $350,000 while its market value sits well north of $1.2 million. That gap is exactly what Prop 19 lets qualifying sellers carry with them — and exactly what heirs lose if they miss a filing deadline. I've guided an intergenerational transfer for a Novato family and advised numerous Marin clients on base year value transfers, and the pattern is consistent: the rules are workable, but the deadlines are unforgiving and the date-of-death details catch people off guard.
Three groups qualify for the Prop 19 base year value transfer: homeowners age 55 or older, severely and permanently disabled homeowners of any age, and owners whose home was substantially damaged or destroyed in a wildfire or Governor-declared natural disaster. The first two groups can use the transfer up to three times; disaster victims can use it once per disaster. The replacement home can be anywhere in California — the old county-reciprocity lists under Propositions 60 and 90 no longer apply — and the replacement must be purchased or newly constructed within two years of the sale of the original home.
This is a live factor in Marin listing decisions. Long-tenured owners deciding whether to downsize within Marin, move closer to family elsewhere in the state, or trade into a single-level home often assume selling means surrendering their Prop 13 tax base. Under Prop 19 it usually doesn't, and knowing that changes the math on listing at all.
Yes. If the replacement costs the same or less, your old taxable value transfers intact. If it costs more, your new taxable value is your old factored base year value plus the difference in market value. The comparison uses an adjusted sale price: 105% of your original home's sale price if you buy within the first year after selling, 110% within the second year.
An illustration with round numbers: you sell a Novato home for $1,200,000 that carries an assessed value of $350,000, then buy a $1,500,000 replacement within the first year. The comparison value is 105% of $1,200,000, or $1,260,000. The replacement exceeds that by $240,000, so your new taxable value is $350,000 plus $240,000 — $590,000. You pay property taxes on $590,000 instead of $1,500,000. Run your own numbers with your CPA before committing; the illustration shows the mechanics, not your outcome.
File the claim with the assessor of the county where the replacement home sits: form BOE-19-B for age 55 and over, BOE-19-D for severely disabled claimants, or BOE-19-V for disaster victims. The claim must be filed within three years of purchasing or completing the replacement home, and you must own and occupy it as your principal residence at the time of filing. For a replacement home in Marin, that means the Marin County Assessor-Recorder at (415) 473-7215; the county's Prop 19 page hosts every claim form.
An inherited Marin home is reassessed to full market value unless three conditions are met: the home was the parent's principal residence, the child makes it their own principal residence within one year of the date of death, and the required claims are filed on time. Inherited rental properties, second homes, and investment real estate get no exclusion under Prop 19 and are reassessed immediately. This is the half of Prop 19 that generates the hardest conversations in my trust and estate work, because families often learn the rules from the assessor's supplemental notice — after the deadlines have started running.
The one-year clock is the detail that matters most, and it runs from the date of death, not the date the property is distributed out of the trust or the estate closes. Having served as trustee or executor five times myself, I can tell you that estate administration rarely feels fast; a year evaporates while families are still gathering appraisals and settling accounts. If keeping the parents' tax base is on the table, the occupancy decision and the exemption filing have to happen early in administration, not at the end.
Even a qualifying family home has a value ceiling. The exclusion covers the home's factored base year value plus $1,044,586 for transfers occurring between February 16, 2025 and February 15, 2027, per the State Board of Equalization's Letter to Assessors 2025/009. The BOE adjusts the amount for inflation every two years; the next adjustment takes effect February 16, 2027.
Two illustrations with round numbers. A parent's Novato home carries a factored base year value of $300,000 and a market value at the date of death of $1,300,000. The ceiling is $300,000 plus $1,044,586 — $1,344,586. Because $1,300,000 is under the ceiling, the child who occupies and files on time keeps the $300,000 assessed value entirely. Now put the same home in Kentfield or Tiburon at a $1,800,000 date-of-death value: it exceeds the ceiling by $455,414, so the new assessed value is $300,000 plus $455,414 — $755,414. Still far better than $1,800,000, but a materially different tax bill, and one that should be modeled before a family commits to keeping the home.
A revocable living trust does not avoid Prop 19. During the parent's lifetime the trust is treated as the parent's own property, and when the home passes to a child through the trust at death, that is a change in ownership. The same occupancy and filing rules apply. What the trust does do is avoid probate — a separate and significant benefit in California. Irrevocable trusts are more complicated and can trigger a change in ownership at different points depending on structure; that analysis belongs with an estate attorney before any transfer is made.
Only one sibling needs to occupy the home as a principal residence to preserve the exclusion. If that sibling later moves out and another moves in within one year, the exclusion can continue, provided the incoming sibling files a new claim and their own Homeowners' Exemption. In practice, sibling coordination is where these plans strain: whoever occupies the home carries obligations the others don't, and the buyout math among siblings should be settled in writing early.
Every Prop 19 benefit is claimed by form, and each form carries its own clock. This table summarizes the deadlines for property located in Marin County; all forms are filed with the Marin County Assessor-Recorder.
Situation | Form | Deadline |
|---|---|---|
Base year value transfer, age 55+ | BOE-19-B | Within 3 years of purchasing or completing the replacement home; replacement must be acquired within 2 years of selling the original |
Base year value transfer, severely disabled | BOE-19-D | Same 3-year filing and 2-year purchase windows as above |
Base year value transfer, wildfire/disaster victim | BOE-19-V | Within 3 years of purchasing or completing the replacement home |
Parent-to-child transfer of family home | BOE-19-P | Within 3 years of the date of death, or before the property is sold to a third party, whichever comes first; also timely within 6 months of the assessor's supplemental or escape assessment notice |
Grandparent-to-grandchild transfer (both of the grandchild's parents deceased) | BOE-19-G | Same windows as BOE-19-P |
Homeowners' Exemption on an inherited family home | BOE-266 | Within 1 year of the date of death to receive the exclusion from the transfer date; later filing yields prospective relief only |
A late BOE-19-P is not always fatal — if you still own the property, a late claim can secure relief for future years — but the year-one Homeowners' Exemption deadline is the one that quietly costs families the most, because it converts a retroactive benefit into a prospective one.
Prop 19 is frequently the deciding factor in whether an inherited Marin home is kept or sold. If no child will occupy the home, the property tax resets to market value — in Marin, often a five-figure annual bill where the parents paid a fraction of that. Weigh that new carrying cost against the stepped-up income tax basis heirs typically receive at death, and the honest answer is often that selling serves the family better than keeping a home nobody plans to live in. As a broker with a JD who has served as trustee or executor five times, this keep-or-sell analysis is the first conversation I have with trustees, and I'd rather run the real numbers with a family early than watch the reassessed tax bill land as a surprise a year into ownership.
When the answer is to keep the home, sequencing matters: occupancy within the year, the BOE-266 filing, then the BOE-19-P claim — all while administration is still underway. When the answer is to sell, Prop 19 shapes timing on the other side too, because a surviving parent selling the family home may be carrying a transferable tax base of their own. My trust, probate, and estate sales page covers how I run those transactions, and my valuation second opinion is where the keep-or-sell math usually starts. For current conditions affecting that decision, see the Marin Market Intelligence page, updated with BAREIS MLS data each quarter.
Prop 19 remains fully in effect, and Marin families should plan under its current rules. Repeal efforts in 2022 and 2024 failed to gather enough valid signatures. A third initiative to restore the old parent-child transfer rules began circulating petitions in late 2025 and has not qualified for the November 2026 ballot as of this writing. If a future measure passes, the pre-2021 rules under Propositions 58 and 193 would return — but no filing deadline waits for a ballot outcome, and neither should an estate plan.
Proposition 19 is a 2020 California constitutional amendment with two halves. It lets homeowners who are 55 or older, severely disabled, or displaced by wildfire or natural disaster move their low property tax base to a replacement home anywhere in California, up to three times. It also narrowed the parent-child transfer rules, so most inherited homes in Marin are now reassessed to market value unless the child moves in within one year and files on time.
Yes. If you are 55 or older, severely disabled, or a qualifying disaster victim, Prop 19 lets you transfer the taxable value of your principal residence from any California county to a replacement home in Marin, or from Marin to anywhere in the state. The old county-reciprocity restrictions under Propositions 60 and 90 are gone. File the claim with the assessor in the county where the replacement home sits.
Homeowners who are 55 or older or severely disabled can use the transfer up to three times. Victims of wildfire or Governor-declared natural disaster can use it once per disaster, with no lifetime limit. Under the prior law this was a once-in-a-lifetime benefit, so sellers who used a Prop 60 or 90 transfer years ago get a fresh set of transfers under Prop 19.
Yes, with an upward adjustment. If the replacement home costs more than your original home sold for, your new taxable value is your old factored base year value plus the difference in market value. You keep most of the benefit rather than losing it entirely, which is how the pre-2021 rules worked. The comparison price is adjusted to 105% if you buy within one year of selling, or 110% within two years.
Two clocks run. The replacement home must be purchased or newly built within two years of the sale of your original home. The claim form must then be filed with the county assessor within three years of the replacement purchase or completion of construction, and you must own and occupy the replacement as your principal residence when you file. Filing late generally limits you to prospective relief.
Often yes, which surprises many families. Under Prop 19, an inherited home is reassessed to market value unless it was the parent's primary residence, the child makes it their own primary residence within one year of the date of death, and the required exemption and exclusion claims are filed on time. Inherited rental homes, second homes, and investment properties are reassessed immediately with no exclusion available.
For transfers occurring between February 16, 2025 and February 15, 2027, the exclusion cap is the home's factored base year value plus $1,044,586, per the State Board of Equalization's Letter to Assessors 2025/009. If the home's market value at the date of death exceeds that ceiling, the excess is added to the new assessed value. The BOE adjusts the amount for inflation every two years; the next adjustment takes effect February 16, 2027.
One year from the date of death, not from the date the property is distributed out of the trust or estate. The date of death is the transfer date for property tax purposes. You must also file the Homeowners' Exemption (form BOE-266) within that same one-year window to receive the exclusion from the transfer date. Missing the exemption deadline converts the benefit to prospective-only relief, beginning in the year you file.
For base year value transfers: BOE-19-B (age 55 and over), BOE-19-D (severely disabled), or BOE-19-V (wildfire or natural disaster victims). For inherited property: BOE-19-P (parent to child) or BOE-19-G (grandparent to grandchild), plus the BOE-266 Homeowners' Exemption within one year. All forms are filed with the Marin County Assessor-Recorder at (415) 473-7215 when the property is in Marin.
No. A revocable living trust is treated as the parent's own property during their lifetime, and when the home passes to a child through the trust at death, that is a change in ownership under Prop 19. The same rules apply: primary-residence status, the one-year move-in requirement, and timely BOE-19-P filing. A living trust still avoids probate, which is a separate and significant benefit, but it does not bypass reassessment.
The exclusion is removed. Prop 19's intergenerational benefit only continues while the home remains the family home of an eligible child. Once it becomes a rental, the property receives a new taxable value based on its market value as of the date the child took ownership, applied from the lien date after the move-out. Families weighing keep-and-rent against selling should run the reassessed tax number first, not the old one.
No. If multiple siblings inherit the family home, only one needs to occupy it as a primary residence. If that sibling later moves out and another moves in within one year, the exclusion can continue, provided the incoming sibling files a new claim and their own Homeowners' Exemption. Coordinating this among siblings is one of the most common friction points I see in Marin trust and estate transactions.
Not currently. Repeal efforts in 2022 and 2024 failed to gather enough valid signatures, and a third initiative that began circulating in late 2025 has not qualified for the November 2026 ballot as of this writing. Marin families should plan under the current rules: the base year value transfer and the narrowed intergenerational exclusion are both in effect, and the filing deadlines are unforgiving.
Frequently, yes. If no child will occupy the home, the property tax bill resets to market value, which in Marin can mean a five-figure annual increase over the parents' bill. That new carrying cost, weighed against the stepped-up income tax basis heirs typically receive, often tips families toward selling. I walk trustees and heirs through both numbers before they commit to keeping, renting, or listing the property.
For assessment questions, the Marin County Assessor-Recorder at (415) 473-7215, and the State Board of Equalization's County-Assessed Properties Division at (916) 274-3350. For your specific tax and legal situation, a qualified California CPA and estate attorney. For how Prop 19 affects the sale or purchase itself — timing, pricing, and the keep-versus-sell decision — that is the conversation I have with Marin clients every month.
Working through a Prop 19 question on a Marin home? Whether it's a base year transfer on your next move or the keep-or-sell decision on an inherited property, I'll walk you through the real numbers. Book a call, email [email protected], or call (415) 350-9440.
This page is general information about Proposition 19, not legal or tax advice. I hold a JD and have served as trustee and executor, but I practice real estate, not law — consult a qualified California CPA and estate attorney about your specific situation, and verify current rules with the State Board of Equalization and the Marin County Assessor-Recorder, (415) 473-7215. Figures cited from BOE Letter to Assessors 2025/009 and BOE Publication 801; reviewed July 8, 2026.