When a Montclair parent gives or leaves the family home to a child, Proposition 19 decides whether the transfer is reassessed, and the San Bernardino County Assessor applies it. The exclusion covers only a family home that was the parent's principal residence and becomes the child's, with a homeowners' or disabled veterans' exemption filed within one year, and only up to a value limit tied to the home's fair market value at the transfer. An appraisal does not decide eligibility. It documents that market value as of the transfer date, which the family, the CPA and the attorney may each need. Nothing here is legal or tax advice.
The questions below run in the order a family meets them, each with its primary source.
The decision sheet
QuestionWhat the source saysWho decides
Does Prop 19 apply to this transfer?
It applies to parent-child transfers on or after February 16, 2021; earlier transfers stay under Proposition 58 (BOE).
The assessor, from the transfer date
What is the transfer date?
For a gift, the recording date of the deed is rebuttably presumed to be the transfer date; for an inheritance, the date of death is the date of change in ownership (BOE).
The attorney documents it; the assessor applies it
Is it a family home?
It must be the parent's principal residence and become the child's principal residence within one year (R&T Code 63.2). A rental home does not qualify (BOE).
The assessor
Has the child filed for the exemption?
The child files for the homeowners' or disabled veterans' exemption within one year of the transfer (Constitution art. XIII A, sec. 2.1; R&T Code 63.2).
The child files; the assessor grants
Has the exclusion claim been filed?
Form BOE-19-P, filed with the county assessor within three years of the transfer or before a transfer to a third party, whichever is earlier (BOE).
The child files
Is the home's value above the limit?
The limit is the home's taxable value plus an amount the Constitution sets at "one million dollars," adjusted for inflation every other February 16 by the BOE. Value above the limit is added to the factored base year value (Constitution; BOE).
The assessor enrolls the value
What value is compared with the limit?
The fair market value of the home upon the transfer, as defined in R&T Code section 110 (R&T Code 63.2).
The assessor; an appraisal documents it independently
The adjusted amount changes every two years, so this sheet does not repeat it. The BOE publishes each adjustment in a Letter to Assessors linked from its Proposition 19 page; confirm the current figure and every filing period there or with the assessor.
Where the appraisal fits
Only the last two rows turn on value, and that is where an appraiser has a place. R&T Code section 110 defines fair market value as "the amount of cash or its equivalent that property would bring if exposed for sale in the open market under conditions in which neither buyer nor seller could take advantage of the exigencies of the other." A report with an effective date, the date the opinion of value applies to, set to the transfer date shows where the home sits against that definition, with the comparable sales and adjustments a reader can check.
A family orders one for three different reasons:
- Before a gift, to see where the house sits relative to the limit while the attorney is still weighing a gift against other plans. The appraisal states value; the attorney weighs the plan.
- For the federal side. A gift of the house may also call for a gift tax return valued as of the date of gift; an inheritance may call for a value as of the date of death. Prop 19 is a county property tax question, separate from both. The article on what the CPA needs for a gift tax appraisal covers the gift, and what the CPA needs on the face of a date-of-death report covers the inheritance.
- When the family reads the assessor's value differently. The San Bernardino County Assessor encourages an informal review first; values that cannot be resolved that way go to the Assessment Appeals Board. An appraisal can be part of that file, and the board establishes the value. The property tax appeal appraisal page explains that work.
When the transfer is already past, the report is a retrospective appraisal, an appraisal whose effective date is in the past. The intended use, what the report will be used for, and the intended users, the people entitled to rely on it, are set at engagement, so name every reader at the start.
Why Montclair is a county-line file
Montclair's western boundary is Mills Avenue, the line between San Bernardino and Los Angeles counties. A Montclair home's claim goes to the San Bernardino County Assessor-Recorder-County Clerk; the county's Prop 19 page says the BOE-19-P can be filed with its office in person, by mail or by email. A similar postwar house a few blocks west in Claremont or Pomona goes to the Los Angeles County Assessor instead. The Montclair area page describes the stock.
The line matters to the appraisal as well. Most Montclair homes are single-story postwar tract houses, and they differ mainly in additions, garage conversions, lot size and condition. A long-held family home often carries an addition or a converted garage, and the permit history decides how that space is treated. A sale across Mills Avenue can be valid evidence of Montclair market value only with the location difference explained, because the county, the schools and the buyer pool change at the line.
Gift or inheritance: what changes on the sheet
Gift during the parent's lifeInheritance
Transfer date
Deed recording date, rebuttably presumed (BOE)
Date of death (BOE)
Effective date of the appraisal
The transfer date the attorney confirms
The date of death
Federal filing the CPA may raise
A gift tax return, valued as of the date of gift
Basis and estate questions, valued as of the date of death
Prop 19 claim
BOE-19-P with the assessor
BOE-19-P with the assessor
One more line from the BOE matters to families: if the child later stops using the home as a principal residence, the BOE says the home receives a new taxable value based on its fair market value on the date it was inherited, factored forward. A report as of that date, kept with the deed, is already on file if that question returns.
What an assessment, a CMA or an estimate cannot show
The county assessment, the taxable value under California's assessment rules, is not an appraisal, and it is the number Prop 19 starts from, not the market value it is compared with. An agent's CMA, an opinion of likely list price, is not an appraisal, and neither is an automated estimate. None of them states a value as of the transfer date with its evidence shown.
What to send
- The address, and the deed or the date of death.
- Who will read the report: the family, the CPA, the attorney, or the assessor in an appeal.
- Permits for additions, garage conversions or rear units.
- Any assessor notice the family has received.
Next step
Attorneys and CPAs handling a parent-child transfer can see how reports are set up on appraisals for attorneys, CPAs and fiduciaries, or call (909) 324-6122. The fee is set by the scope of the assignment and quoted before work begins, and it does not depend on the value. For the wider picture, read what your CPA will ask for in a gift or donation appraisal, or browse the gift, charitable and tax-purpose appraisals hub.
Sources
- California State Board of Equalization, Proposition 19 (comparison charts, claim forms and FAQs), accessed November 6, 2026
- California Constitution, article XIII A, section 2.1, accessed November 6, 2026
- California Revenue and Taxation Code section 63.2, accessed November 6, 2026
- California Revenue and Taxation Code section 110, accessed November 6, 2026
- San Bernardino County Assessor-Recorder-County Clerk, Prop 19 intergenerational transfers, accessed November 6, 2026
- San Bernardino County Assessor-Recorder-County Clerk, Assessment Appeals, accessed November 6, 2026
Gordon Hall, California Certified Residential Real Estate Appraiser, BREA No. AR003877 (lookup: https://www2.brea.ca.gov/breasearch/faces/party/view.xhtml?id=23601). Reports are prepared in conformity with the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP). Nothing here is legal or tax advice; admissibility is always the court's decision.
Frequently asked questions
Does Prop 19 apply when a Montclair parent gives the family home to a child?
It applies to parent-child transfers on or after February 16, 2021. The home must be the parent's principal residence and become the child's principal residence, and the child files for the homeowners' or disabled veterans' exemption within one year. The San Bernardino County Assessor decides eligibility.
Which form claims the parent-child exclusion?
Form BOE-19-P, filed with the county assessor. The BOE lists the filing period as within three years of the transfer or the date of death, or before a transfer to a third party, whichever is earlier. Confirm the current period with the assessor.
What value is compared with the Prop 19 limit?
Revenue and Taxation Code section 63.2 compares the home's fair market value upon the transfer, as defined in section 110, with its taxable value plus an amount the Constitution sets at one million dollars and the BOE adjusts every other February 16. The assessor enrolls the resulting value.
Does an appraisal decide whether the exclusion applies?
No. Eligibility is the assessor's decision. An appraisal documents the home's market value as of the transfer date, with comparable sales shown, for the family, the CPA or the attorney, and it can be part of an informal review or an appeal file.
Are a gift and an inheritance handled the same way under Prop 19?
Both use the BOE-19-P claim. The transfer date differs: for a gift the deed recording date is rebuttably presumed to be the transfer date, and for an inheritance the date of death is the date of change in ownership, according to the BOE.
