Cal. Rules of Prof. Conduct, rule 1.8.9 · Chapter 1. Lawyer-Client Relationship
Purchasing Property at a Foreclosure or a Sale Subject to Judicial Review
Text — 2026 edition, as the State Bar of California publishes it (read October 22, 2026)
(a) A lawyer shall not directly or indirectly purchase property at a probate, foreclosure, receiver’s, trustee’s, or judicial sale in an action or proceeding in which such lawyer or any lawyer affiliated by reason of personal, business, or professional relationship with that lawyer or with that lawyer’s law firm* is acting as a lawyer for a party or as executor, receiver, trustee, administrator, guardian, or conservator.
(b) A lawyer shall not represent the seller at a probate, foreclosure, receiver, trustee, or judicial sale in an action or proceeding in which the purchaser is a spouse or relative of the lawyer or of another lawyer in the lawyer’s law firm* or is an employee of the lawyer or the lawyer’s law firm.*
(c) This rule does not prohibit a lawyer’s participation in transactions that are specifically authorized by and comply with Probate Code sections 9880 through 9885, but such transactions remain subject to the provisions of rules 1.8.1 and 1.7.
Notes and commentary — not rule text
Comment
A lawyer may lawfully participate in a transaction involving a probate proceeding which concerns a client by following the process described in Probate Code sections 9880-9885. These provisions, which permit what would otherwise be impermissible self-dealing by specific submissions to and approval by the courts, must be strictly followed in order to avoid violation of this rule.
Source of truth
- Edition
- 2026 edition, as the State Bar of California publishes it (read October 22, 2026)
- Official file
- https://www.calbar.ca.gov/sites/default/files/portals/0/documents/rules/Rules-of-Professional-Conduct.pdf (PDF pages 29)
- Text hash
- sha256 ccbbde16dd769606e383d3794ea4fbc5b83c8b070b345efad26c17a1e8003805
- Composed by
- rpc/build 2026-10-22: the State Bar's 2026 PDF (pages 12-71) read by two readers, PyMuPDF glyph positions and pdfminer with the PDF's tagged structure, agreeing on 834 of 843 paragraphs character for character, the other nine (paragraph boundaries only) resolved against the rendered page; 205,485 printed glyphs accounted for; the State Bar's chapter pages a third reading
This rule cites
Provisions in this library that the text above cites, as it prints each citation. A range cited as “ss. 61.13-61.16” links its first and last provisions.
Probate Code
Cited by 3 provisions
Provisions in this library whose text cites Cal. Rules of Prof. Conduct, rule 1.8.9. Each shows the citation as that text prints it.
California Rules of Professional Conduct
- Cal. Rules of Prof. Conduct, rule 1.8.5Payment of Personal or Business Expenses Incurred by or for a ClientPrinted as rule 1.8.9
- Cal. Rules of Prof. Conduct, rule 1.8.11Imputation of Prohibitions Under Rules 1.8.1 to 1.8.9Printed as rules 1.8.1 through 1.8.9
- Cal. Rules of Prof. Conduct, rule 1.10Imputation of Conflicts of Interest: General RulePrinted as rules 1.8.1 through 1.8.9
Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.