A buyer signed a purchase agreement to purchase a home at a court ordered probate sale conducted by the estate of the deceased property owner. The buyer deposited 10% of the purchase price in escrow with the remainder to be deposited before the close of escrow. The escrow instructions did not contain a time essence clause. The buyer did not tender payment of the remainder of the purchase price before the date scheduled for the close of escrow, nor did the estate place the property’s deed in escrow until 20 days after the original closing date. The buyer cancelled the purchase transaction after the date escrow was scheduled to close. The buyer made a demand for the return of his deposit, which the estate rejected.  The buyer claimed the estate had not timely performed as it did not put the property’s deed in escrow until after the date scheduled for the close of escrow. The estate claimed it performed in a reasonable amount of time since its timing was consistent with the buyer’s failure to deposit the balance of the price in escrow and the escrow instructions did not contain a time essence clause. A California court of appeals held the estate was not required to refund the buyer’s deposit since the buyer did not prove the estate’s delay in delivering the deed after the date set for the close of escrow was an unreasonable amount of time for performance. [Tornel v. Office of the Public Guardian of Los Angeles County (May 31, 2011) 196 CA4th 1031]