Estate planning
Revocable Living Trusts
You keep full control of your property during your life. If you become unable to manage it, or when you die, the person you chose takes over without going to court.
How it works
Your property, your rules, no probate
You sign a trust agreement and transfer your property into it. While you are alive and well, you serve as your own trustee, so nothing about how you use your home or accounts changes. You can amend or revoke the trust at any time.
The trust names a successor trustee to step in if you become incapacitated and to distribute your property when you die. Because the trust already owns the property, there is nothing for a probate court to transfer.
Who’s who
Settlor: you, the person who creates it
Trustee: you, while you are able
Successor trustee: the person you choose to take over
Beneficiaries: the people who receive the property
What we include
What comes with your trust
01
The trust agreement
Drafted around your family: who serves as successor trustee and in what order, how shares are divided, and when younger beneficiaries receive them.
02
A certification of trust
A short summary that banks and title companies accept in place of the full trust, so the private terms stay private.
03
A deed to your home
Our office prepares the deed that transfers your home to the trust. A transfer to your own revocable trust does not trigger a property tax reassessment.
04
Funding instructions
An assignment of personal property and written, account-by-account instructions for retitling assets and updating beneficiary designations.
Do you need one?
It usually comes down to probate
If you own a home in California, or your assets without named beneficiaries add up to more than a modest amount, a will alone usually means your family goes through probate when you die. A revocable living trust is the standard way to avoid it.
A trust does more than avoid probate. A will admitted to probate becomes part of a public court file; a trust is never filed with the court. A trust also lets you decide when and how children or grandchildren receive their shares, and it can protect a beneficiary who receives public benefits or has trouble managing money.
If your estate is small, or nearly everything you own already passes by beneficiary designation, a will and a few updated forms may be all you need. We will tell you which group you are in at the free consultation, and we will not recommend a trust you do not need.
Probate by the numbers
9 to 18 months: typical formal probate, per the California courts
$38,000: statutory attorney and executor fees on an $800,000 estate
Gross value: fees are figured before the mortgage is subtracted
Public record: the probate file is open to anyone
Other options
When a will may be enough
01
Your estate is small
For deaths on or after April 1, 2025, if the estate’s gross value is no more than $208,850 (not counting property held in a trust, in joint tenancy, or with a named beneficiary), heirs can collect bank accounts and other personal property by affidavit, without probate. A primary residence worth up to $750,000 may pass through a simplified court petition instead of full probate.
02
Your assets already have beneficiaries
Retirement accounts, life insurance, and payable-on-death bank accounts pass directly to the people you name, regardless of what your will says. If these make up most of your estate, keeping those designations current matters more than the will.
03
A transfer on death deed
California allows a revocable transfer on death deed for a home. It can work in a simple situation, but it does nothing if you become incapacitated, and the law that authorizes it is set to expire on January 1, 2032 unless the Legislature extends it.
04
Joint tenancy
Holding property in joint tenancy avoids probate when the first owner dies, but not when the survivor dies. For married couples, it can also cost the survivor a tax advantage available to community property.
Common questions
Living trust questions
Does a living trust save taxes?
A revocable trust does not change your income taxes; you keep filing under your own Social Security number. California has no estate or inheritance tax, and for 2026 the federal estate tax exemption is $15 million per person. For married couples, the trust can be drafted to make use of both spouses’ exemptions.
Does it protect assets from creditors?
Not from your own creditors. Because you can revoke it, the property remains reachable by your creditors during your life. It can, however, protect what your beneficiaries inherit.
What if I forget to fund it?
Assets left in your individual name may need probate or a separate court petition to reach the trust. That is why every plan we prepare comes with funding instructions, and why the pour-over will is a backstop rather than the plan.
Can I change it later?
Yes. While you are living and have capacity, you can change any term, trustee, or beneficiary, or revoke the trust entirely. In a joint trust, part or all of it may become irrevocable after the first spouse dies, depending on how it is drafted.