ESTATE PLANNING · CALIFORNIA
Foundational Estate Planning for California Families
Five documents. One afternoon. Your family never sees the inside of a probate court.
A revocable living trust, will, healthcare directive and power of attorney, drafted by a California estate planning attorney with over a decade in trusts and estates, funded properly, and priced as a flat fee you know before we start.
If you die in California without a plan, the state has one for you. Your assets go where the Probate Code says they go, not where you would have sent them, and they get there through probate, which in Los Angeles County typically takes a year or more, is open to the public, and charges fees set by law on the gross value of everything you own. An unmarried partner receives nothing. A child from a previous relationship can be left out. A house you meant for one person is split among several.
A foundational estate plan replaces all of that with your decisions. It is the plan most people need, and it is where I start with almost every client. Five documents that work together — a trust that holds your assets and keeps them out of probate, a will that catches anything left outside it and names guardians for your children, a healthcare directive, a power of attorney, and a certificate of trust so banks and title companies can deal with your trustee without reading the whole document.
I do not hand you a template. I sit with you, find out what you own and who matters to you, and build the plan around your actual life. Then I make sure your assets are moved into the trust, because a trust that was never funded is the most common reason a family that paid for a plan still ends up in probate.
WHAT'S INCLUDED
The plan, document by document
I.
Revocable living trust
The core document. You keep full control while you are alive, and on your death your successor trustee distributes your assets privately, without a court, on the terms you set.
II.
Pour-over will
The core document. You keep full control while you are alive, and on your death your successor trustee distributes your assets privately, without a court, on the terms you set.
VI.
Trust funding instructions and guidance
A written plan for retitling your home, accounts and other assets into the trust, and help getting it done. This is the step most firms leave to you and most people never finish.
III.
Advance healthcare directive
The core document. You keep full control while you are alive, and on your death your successor trustee distributes your assets privately, without a court, on the terms you set.
IV.
Durable power of attorney
Names who manages your money and property if you are incapacitated. Without one, your family has to petition the court for a conservatorship.
V.
Certificate of trust
A short summary banks, brokerages and title companies accept in place of the full trust, so your trustee can act without disclosing your private terms.
WHY WORK WITH ME
A decade in trusts & estates, kept deliberately small
I.
Free consultation
A conversation about your family, your assets and your goals. [Around 45 minutes, confirm. *I’d say 60] You leave knowing what your plan needs and exactly what it will cost, with no obligation to go further.
II.
Plan design
I recommend a structure based on what we discussed, and explain why.
III.
Drafting and review.
I draft your documents, walk you through them in detail, and revise until they say what you want.
IV.
Signing and funding.
Documents are signed and notarized, and I give you a clear trust funding plan and help you carry it out. [Typically a few weeks from consultation to signing, confirm.
WHY IT'S WORTH DOING
What a funded trust actually buys you
I.
Your family avoids California probate
Statutory probate fees are calculated on the gross value of the estate, before mortgages are deducted, and the process takes a year or more. A funded trust avoids all of it.
II.
Your affairs stay private
Probate files are public records. Anyone can read what you owned and who received it. A trust is never filed anywhere.
VI.
It is finished
Trust funding is part of the work, not a follow-up task. When we are done, your plan works.
III.
Advance healthcare directive
The core document. You keep full control while you are alive, and on your death your successor trustee distributes your assets privately, without a court, on the terms you set.
IV.
Your partner and children are protected
California intestacy law gives an unmarried partner nothing and can split assets in ways that force the sale of the family home. Your plan says what you actually want.
V.
You know the cost before you commit
Every engagement at this firm is a flat fee, confirmed at the initial consultation. No hourly billing, no surprise invoice.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Common questions before booking
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My fees are flat and confirmed at the initial consultation, so you know the number before any work starts. The figure depends on what your plan needs, which the first conversation establishes. For comparison, probate on a $1 million estate in California costs the estate around $46,000 in statutory attorney and executor fees alone, before court costs and a year of delay. A funded living trust avoids that entirely.
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In most states a will is often enough. In California it usually is not, because a will still goes through probate. If you own a home, or your estate is worth more than the state's small estate limits, a revocable living trust is the way to keep your family out of court. If a will really is enough for you, I will tell you.
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A revocable living trust can be changed or cancelled at any time while you are alive, and it is the foundation of almost every California estate plan. An irrevocable trust generally cannot be changed once it is created, and is used for specific tax, asset protection or multi-generational planning goals. Most families need the revocable trust. Whether you also need an irrevocable one depends on the size of your estate and your goals, which is something we cover in the consultation. My Multigenerational and Advanced Planning page covers those structures.
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Your family has to go to court and ask for a conservatorship, which is expensive, public, slow and stressful, and the judge decides who is appointed. A durable power of attorney and an advance healthcare directive avoid that. You choose the people, in advance, and they can act the day they are needed.
Our firm offers thorough plan reviews for clients who have existing documents they want evaluated. A review is almost always less expensive than discovering a problem after the fact.
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Possibly. A trust only works if your assets are actually in it, and estates change: a new home, a refinance, a new account, a marriage, a divorce, a child, a move to California. If your plan is more than a few years old or has not been looked at since a major life change, my Plan Review and Second Opinion service checks the documents, the funding and your beneficiary designations, and gives you written findings whether or not anything needs redrafting.
BOOK A FREE CONSULTATION
The plan only helps if it exists before it is needed
Book a free consultation, by video or at my Marina Del Rey office, and you will leave knowing exactly what your plan needs and what it will cost, whether or not you decide to go ahead.