Inheriting money, property, or a share of an estate can feel like a simple gift.
It is not always that simple.
For many beneficiaries, deciding whether to accept it is a real decision, not a formality.
Maybe accepting the asset would create legal or financial problems you did not expect. Maybe it does not fit your long-term plans. Or maybe it is just not what is best for your family. Whatever the reason, saying no to an inheritance can feel confusing and overwhelming.
You may worry about what happens legally if you step aside, or feel unsure where the assets will end up.
The good news is that California law gives you a clear, well-established way to handle this. It is called a disclaimer.
If you file it within the required time and follow the right steps, a disclaimer lets you decline an inheritance cleanly. The assets never legally pass through your hands, and you are not treated as ever having owned them.
아래 California Probate Code § 275, estate beneficiaries have the legal right to disclaim their interest in a decedent’s estate.
Filing a valid disclaimer means the law treats you as though you predeceased the decedent. The assets then pass directly to the next beneficiary in line, under the will, the trust, or California’s intestate succession rules.
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However, it has been held that a disclaimer does not defeat federal tax liens. Notwithstanding federal tax liens, there may be occasions when a beneficiary with other creditor problems wishes to disclaim an inheritance if the disclaimer results in property passing to the beneficiary’s children or other objects of the beneficiary’s affection.
The disclaimer may be ineffective, however, when a beneficiary becomes entitled to an inheritance within 180 days after petitioning for bankruptcy and the inheritance would otherwise become part of the bankruptcy estate. 11 USC § 541(a)(5)(A).
A legal disclaimer can be a valuable tool in a wide range of personal, legal, and estate planning situations.
Receiving an inheritance while on Medi-Cal can disrupt your benefits and trigger costly penalties if handled incorrectly.
This concern is more urgent than it used to be.
Between 2022 and 2024, California phased out its Medi-Cal asset limit entirely, so a beneficiary who received an inheritance while on Medi-Cal did not have to worry about their assets at all.
That changed on January 1, 2026. Under Assembly Bill 116, the state reinstated the asset limit for most non-MAGI Medi-Cal programs, including Long-Term Care Medi-Cal and the Medicare Savings Programs.
The reinstated limit allows an individual to keep up to $130,000 in countable assets, plus $65,000 for each additional person in the household, through June 30, 2027.
Starting July 1, 2027, the limit is scheduled to drop to $21,000 for one person or $31,000 for two, plus $1,550 per additional household member, so anyone planning around today’s $130,000 figure should confirm the current limit before relying on it.
This means a beneficiary who is currently on Medi-Cal, or who expects to need it soon, can push themselves over the limit simply by accepting an inheritance outright. If that happens, coverage can be terminated at the beneficiary’s next annual renewal.
A disclaimer, made before the inheritance is accepted, keeps those assets from ever counting against that person in the first place.
To safeguard your benefits, consult an experienced Medi-Cal professional before an inheritance presents a problem.
The procedure for creating a disclaimer is set forth at Prob C §§ 278-286, 288 as follows:
To be valid, the disclaimer must be in writing, signed by the disclaimant, and clearly state:
(a) In the case of any of the following interest, under California law, the disclaimer must be made within a “reasonable time” after the disclaimant acquired knowledge of the transfer, although 9 months is deemed reasonable as a matter of law:
(b) For an interest created by a living trust, an outright inter vivos gift, a power of appointment (or its present exercise), or succession to a disclaimed interest, a disclaimer is conclusively presumed timely if filed within nine months after the latest of:
(c) In case of an interest not described in subdivision (a) or (b), a disclaimer is conclusively presumed to have been filed within a reasonable time if it is filed within nine months after whichever of the following times occur later:
If the disclaimer is not filed within the time provided above, the disclaimant has the burden of establishing that the disclaimer was filed within a reasonable time after acquiring knowledge of the interest.
This does not mean the disclaimer cannot be valid. It means it is no longer conclusively presumed to be valid, and the burden of proving the timing was reasonable falls on the person asserting the disclaimer.
Whoever contests the timing, whether a trustee, executor, family member, or taxing authority, will focus on the property interests at stake.
A disclaimer may be filed with the superior court in the county where the decedent’s estate is administered, with the trustee, personal representative, other fiduciary, or person responsible for distributing the interest to the beneficiary, with any other person who has custody, possession, or legal title to the interest, or with the creator of the interest.
If the disclaimed interest includes real property, such as a house or land, the disclaimer should also be acknowledged before a notary and recorded with the county recorder in the county where the property is located.
Recording protects the chain of title and puts future buyers, lenders, and title companies on notice that the disclaimant gave up any claim to the property.
A disclaimer, when effective, is irrevocable. It binds the beneficiary and everyone claiming through the beneficiary, including creditors, and cannot be undone once filed.
In effect, it treats the person who would have received the asset as though they never received it at all.
For federal tax purposes, a disclaimer must separately meet the requirements of a “qualified disclaimer” under 26 U.S.C. § 2518, which likewise calls for a written, irrevocable refusal delivered within nine months, with no benefit accepted from the property beforehand.
Meeting California’s requirements does not automatically satisfy the federal rule, so both should be checked together before a disclaimer is filed.
A: Yes. Probate Code section 275 allows a partial disclaimer, so you can refuse a portion of an interest while keeping the rest.
A: The disclaimer is not automatically invalid, but you lose the presumption that it was timely and must instead prove it was filed within a reasonable time after you learned of the interest.
A: Yes, generally through a court-appointed guardian or conservator acting on the minor’s behalf, since a minor cannot sign a valid disclaimer alone.
A: A properly filed disclaimer keeps the inherited assets from ever counting as yours, which can protect Medi-Cal eligibility now that California’s asset limit has returned as of January 1, 2026.
A: Yes, but the disclaimer should be notarized and recorded with the county recorder where the property sits so the public record reflects who actually owns it.
A: California law does not require an attorney, but a disclaimer is irrevocable once filed, so most people work with a probate attorney to make sure it is done correctly the first time.
Losing someone you love is hard enough without also carrying the weight of a legal decision about their estate.
If you are trying to figure out whether to accept or disclaim an inheritance, whether or not there was a Will, you do not have to sort through Probate Code sections and deadlines by yourself.
Quinn & Dworakowski, LLP has walked families through this exact decision, and we are ready to walk through it with you.
Reach us by phone or through our online contact form. We handle probate matters in every California county, including Imperial County, Los Angeles County, Orange County, Riverside County, San Bernardino County, and San Diego County.
If you live outside California but have a probate matter touching real or personal property here, we represent you too.
상담 일정을 잡으려면 다음 연락처로 전화하세요. 949-660-1400.
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