Do I Need a Living Trust? California Estate Planning Guide

Reviewed by Rozsa Gyene, California attorney. Last reviewed October 2026.

Published January 2025. Updated October 6, 2026.

Quick Answer

In California, you most likely need a living trust if you own real estate that would not fit a small estate procedure: a home worth more than $750,000, a primary residence you expect to rise past that figure, a rental or second home, or land in another state. You also need one if you want someone to manage money for minor children past age 18, if you are in a second marriage with children from the first, or if you want a named person to take over your finances without a conservatorship.

You may not need one yet if you rent, your California property outside of beneficiary designations and joint tenancy is $208,850 or less, and nobody depends on you. A will, a durable power of attorney and an advance health care directive cover that situation.

Key Takeaways

The question turns on what your family would have to file in court without a trust, and that depends on what you own and how it is titled.
For deaths on or after April 1, 2025, a primary residence worth up to $750,000 can pass by a Probate Code §13151 court petition ($435 filing fee) instead of full probate. A rental, a second home or a more valuable home cannot.
If your California property, real and personal, is $208,850 or less, not counting a home that passes by §13151 petition, the personal property can be collected by affidavit under §13100 after 40 days. Joint tenancy property, trust property, accounts that pass to a surviving joint owner or payable-on-death beneficiary, and registered vehicles do not count toward that limit (§13050).
Full probate on a $900,000 home carries $42,000 in statutory attorney and executor fees under §§10810 and 10800, calculated on the gross value with no deduction for the mortgage.
Minor children, blended families, out-of-state land and incapacity planning are reasons for a trust that have nothing to do with estate size.
Our attorney-prepared trust is $400 for one person or $500 for a married couple. Moving a home into it is a $400 trust plus $100 deed.

This guide is organized by situation. If you want the side-by-side comparison of a trust and a will (cost, privacy, contests, guardians), that is covered in living trust vs will in California. Here the question is narrower: given what you own and who depends on you, what would your family actually face without a trust?

Decision table by situation

Find the rows that describe you. Each one says what happens without a trust under current California law and whether a trust changes the result. Figures apply to deaths on or after April 1, 2025.

Your situation	Without a trust	Does a trust help?
Primary residence worth $750,000 or less	Court petition under Probate Code §13151, $435 filing fee, at least 40 days after death, notice to all heirs	Yes, it removes the court filing. Not strictly necessary if the value stays under the limit.
Primary residence worth more than $750,000	Full probate, with statutory attorney and executor fees on the gross value	Yes, this is the main case for a trust.
Rental, second home or vacant land in California	§13151 is not available (primary residence only). §13200 covers California real property only up to $69,625 in total. Otherwise full probate.	Yes.
Land in another state	A separate ancillary proceeding in that state, under that state's law	Yes, if the land is deeded into the trust.
Renter; accounts mostly with named beneficiaries	§13100 affidavit, no court, if the rest is $208,850 or less	Usually not needed yet.
Children under 18	Money left to a minor usually needs a court guardianship of the estate, and the child takes it at 18	Yes. The trust sets the age and the trustee.
Second marriage, children from the first	Intestate rules (§6401) can send all community property to the spouse; stepchildren generally do not inherit (§6454)	Yes, a trust can fix each side's share.
Concern about dementia or incapacity	Conservatorship of the estate (§1801) for anything a power of attorney does not reach, $435 petition fee	Yes, the successor trustee manages trust assets without court.

Your home's value and the §13151 limit

For most California families the house decides the question. Since AB 2016 (Stats. 2024, ch. 331), the Probate Code §13151 petition covers a decedent's primary residence in California worth up to $750,000, for deaths on or after April 1, 2025. The Judicial Council's adjustment table also shows the older limits: $184,500 for deaths from April 1, 2022 through March 31, 2025, and $166,250 before that. Under Probate Code §890 the amounts are next adjusted on April 1, 2028.

The petition is simpler than probate, but it is still a court case. Your heir files in the superior court of the county where you lived (the venue rule in Probate Code §7051), waits at least 40 days after the death, pays the $435 filing fee ($450 in Riverside and San Francisco counties), and must send notice of the petition to each heir and devisee within five business days of filing (§13151(b)). The value test uses the home's gross value, so a large mortgage does not bring a $900,000 house under the limit.

Example 1: a $650,000 home and a $120,000 bank account

A widowed homeowner dies in 2026. She owns her home, worth $650,000, in her own name, a $120,000 savings account with no payable-on-death beneficiary, a car, and an IRA that names her son.

The home qualifies for a §13151 petition: it was her primary residence and is under $750,000.
The savings account can be collected by a §13100 affidavit. The home claimed under §13151 is excluded from the $208,850 count, the car is excluded by §13050(b), and the IRA passes to the named beneficiary.
Result: no full probate, but one court petition with a filing fee, notice to the heirs, and a 40-day wait before either step.

For her, a trust is a convenience that saves a court filing, not a necessity. The picture changes if the house appreciates past $750,000 before she dies, or if she moves into assisted living and the house is no longer her primary residence.

Example 2: the same family, with a $900,000 home

Now the home is worth $900,000 and has a $400,000 mortgage. It is over the §13151 limit, so the heirs need full probate. Statutory compensation is calculated on the gross appraised value, without subtracting the mortgage (§10810(b)):

Attorney (§10810): 4% of $100,000 plus 3% of $100,000 plus 2% of $700,000 = $21,000.00
Executor (§10800): the same schedule, another $21,000.00
Combined: $42,000.00, plus the $435 filing fee and a probate referee commission of one tenth of one percent of the appraised value (§8961), about $900

With a funded trust, the successor trustee transfers or sells the house under the trust's terms with no court filing. The cost to set that up here is a $400 trust plus $100 deed. Run your own figures in the California probate cost calculator.

Two practical points. First, the value is measured at death, not today, so a home just under the limit now may not be under it later. Our city pages show local home values, for example living trust Napa and living trust Los Angeles. Second, the trust only helps if the home is actually deeded into it. A signed trust with the house still in your individual name does not keep that house out of court: your family would need probate, a small estate procedure or a separate court petition (Probate Code §850) to move it into the trust. The funding steps are in how to fund a living trust in California.

What recording the deed costs

Moving your home into your own revocable trust is not a change in ownership for property tax purposes (Revenue and Taxation Code §62(d)), so there is no reassessment. The $75 SB 2 fee is usually not charged on a deed moving your own home into your trust because the owner-occupier exemption is claimed on the deed; it is charged on rentals and other property (Government Code §27388.1(a)(2)), up to $225 per transaction (§27388.1(a)(1)). Our office prepares the deed for $100 per property and you record it with your county recorder.

Rentals, second homes and out-of-state land

The §13151 petition is limited to the primary residence. A rental condo, a cabin or a vacant lot in California falls back on Probate Code §13200, which lets an heir file an affidavit for real property only if all of the decedent's California real property, other than property excluded under §13050, is worth $69,625 or less, and only six months after the death. Almost no rental property in California fits under that figure, so a rental left outside a trust generally means full probate. On a $500,000 rental, the statutory attorney and executor fees alone are $26,000 combined.

Land in another state is a separate problem. A California probate court handles the estate of a California resident, but each state applies its own law to land inside its borders (California's version of that rule is Civil Code §755), so your family would usually have to open a second, ancillary proceeding where the land sits. California works the same way in reverse: when a nonresident dies owning California land, an ancillary administration can be opened here (Probate Code §12510). Deeding the out-of-state property into your trust, with a deed that meets that state's recording rules, avoids the second case. The details, including which state's law governs the trust, are in California living trust and out-of-state property.

A transfer on death deed is another way to pass one California parcel without probate. It must be signed and dated, signed by two witnesses present at the same time, acknowledged before a notary (§5624), and recorded within 60 days of notarization (§5626); the statute is set to expire on January 1, 2032 unless extended (§5600). It does nothing if you become incapacitated, and it covers only the property it describes. The full comparison of probate avoidance methods is in how to avoid probate in California.

No real estate: the $208,850 affidavit

If you rent, the question is mostly about accounts. Under Probate Code §13100, when the gross value of your California property is $208,850 or less (deaths on or after April 1, 2025), your heirs can collect the personal property with a signed affidavit once 40 days have passed, without opening a court case. Section 13050 excludes from that count:

property held in joint tenancy and property in a revocable trust;
bank accounts with a surviving joint owner or a payable-on-death beneficiary;
registered vehicles, vessels and manufactured homes;
up to $20,875 of unpaid salary owed to the decedent (the §13050(c) figure as adjusted).

Retirement accounts and life insurance with a living named beneficiary pass by contract and do not go through probate at all (Probate Code §5000). So a renter with a brokerage account, a 401(k) naming a sibling and a car can often leave everything without a trust. The weak point is the beneficiary designation itself: if the named beneficiary dies first and no contingent is named, the plan's default terms may pay the account to your estate, where it counts toward the $208,850. Our small estate affidavit guide walks through the affidavit and its limits.

This group still needs documents. A durable power of attorney and an advance health care directive matter more to a single renter than a trust does, because they decide who handles your money and medical care if you cannot.

Married couples

Married couples often hear that they need a trust right away, and the honest answer is more specific. At the first death, property left to the surviving spouse by will, or passing to the spouse by intestacy, goes to the survivor without probate (Probate Code §13500). When the survivor needs a court order confirming that a house or account now belongs to them, the procedure is a spousal property petition under §13650, with the same $435 filing fee. Property deeded as "community property with right of survivorship" passes to the survivor without administration under Civil Code §682.1, using the same procedure as joint tenancy, but only for property whose deed says so.

The second death is where probate falls. Whatever the survivor owns alone at that point is measured against the same §13151 and §13100 limits as a single person's estate. A joint trust covers both deaths, either spouse's incapacity, and the split between the deceased spouse's share and the survivor's share. Our trust for a married couple is $500. More on how joint trusts work at the first death is in living trusts for married couples in California.

Minor children

Parents of young children need a trust for a reason that has nothing to do with the size of the estate. A minor is anyone under 18 (Family Code §6500), and a minor cannot manage an inheritance. Without a trust or another arrangement, money left to a child usually requires a court guardianship of the estate, which costs $435 to petition, reports to the court, and ends when the child turns 18 (Probate Code §1600). At that point the child receives everything outright. One small exception is Probate Code §3401, which lets a parent hold up to $5,000 total for a minor without a guardianship.

A trust replaces that with your own rules: the trustee you choose manages the money, pays for school and support, and distributes at the ages you set, whether 25, 30 or in stages. The California Uniform Transfers to Minors Act is a lighter alternative, but a custodianship created by a will or trust can last only until age 25 at the latest (§3920.5).

The guardian who raises your children is a separate choice. A parent nominates a guardian of the person in a signed writing, usually the will that accompanies the trust (Probate Code §§1500 and 1502), and the court gives that nomination due weight. A trust does not do this by itself, which is one reason every trust we prepare comes with a pour-over will.

Blended families

A second marriage with children from a first marriage is the situation where the default rules most often produce a result nobody intended. If a spouse dies without a will or trust, California's intestate rules give the surviving spouse all of the decedent's half of the community property (Probate Code §6401(a)). Of the decedent's separate property, the surviving spouse takes one third when there is more than one child, and the children share the rest (§6401(c)(3)). The children from the first marriage receive nothing from the community property.

When the surviving spouse later dies, their estate goes to their own heirs. If the survivor leaves children of their own, a stepchild generally inherits nothing from that stepparent unless the relationship began in childhood, continued for life, and the stepparent would have adopted the child but for a legal barrier (§6454). Stepchildren take as the first spouse's issue only when the survivor leaves no children (§6402.5) or no close relatives at all (§6402(e)). So the first spouse's children can be cut out entirely, in two steps, without anyone intending it.

A will helps, but it still goes through probate, and a surviving spouse who inherits outright can later leave everything elsewhere. A trust can hold the deceased spouse's share for the survivor's lifetime and then pass it to that spouse's children. Whether the survivor can change the deceased spouse's share depends on how the trust is written: unless the trust says otherwise, each spouse may revoke a joint trust only as to the portion that spouse contributed (Probate Code §15401(b)), and many trusts make the first spouse's share irrevocable at death. This is drafting that has to be done on purpose.

Incapacity

Probate is about death. Incapacity is the other half of the question, and it can come at any age. If you can no longer manage your finances and nobody has legal authority to act, someone, usually a family member, has to petition for a conservatorship of the estate. The court may appoint a conservator for a person who is substantially unable to manage their own financial resources or resist fraud or undue influence, and the standard of proof is clear and convincing evidence (Probate Code §1801(b), (e)). The petition fee is $435; the court investigator's assessment (§1851.5), a bond (§2320) and attorney fees are on top of that, and the conservator reports to the court.

A funded living trust names a successor trustee who takes over the trust assets when you can no longer act, under the incapacity terms in the trust, with no court involvement. Assets that stay outside the trust, such as an IRA, a car or a final paycheck, need a durable power of attorney. A California power of attorney must be dated, signed, and either notarized or signed by two qualified witnesses (Probate Code §4121). Your agent under a power of attorney cannot amend or revoke your trust unless the trust expressly allows it (§15401(c)), which is another reason the two documents are drafted together.

If there is dementia in your family, or you are caring for a spouse whose capacity is declining, this point alone usually justifies a trust while both of you can still sign.

What a revocable trust will not do

Protect you from your own creditors. While you can revoke the trust, its property is subject to your creditors to the extent of that power (Probate Code §18200).
Reduce estate tax for most families. The federal basic exclusion is $15,000,000 per person for 2026 (Public Law 119-21). Below that, there is no federal estate tax with or without a trust. The tax side is covered in living trust tax benefits in California.
Change Medi-Cal eligibility. What it does change is estate recovery: for deaths on or after January 1, 2017, Medi-Cal can recover only from the probate estate, and for members 55 and older it makes no claim when there is a surviving spouse or registered domestic partner, a child under 21, or a blind or disabled child (Welfare and Institutions Code §14009.5). A home in a funded trust is not part of the probate estate.
Work without funding. Accounts and real estate must be retitled or deeded to the trustee. A pour-over will (Probate Code §6300) catches what was missed, but anything that passes under the will above the small estate limits still goes through probate first.

If the table pointed to a trust

Attorney-prepared California living trust: $400 for one person, $500 for a married couple, with a pour-over will, durable power of attorney and advance health care directive. Deed preparation for your home is $100 per property.

See pricing and start Ask the attorney

How to decide, step by step

List what you own and how it is titled. For each asset write the value and whether it is in your name alone, joint tenancy, community property with right of survivorship, or has a named beneficiary.
Check the real estate first. Is your home your primary residence and worth $750,000 or less? Do you own any rental, second home, vacant land or out-of-state property? Any yes on the second question points to a trust.
Add up the rest. Total the property that has no beneficiary and is not jointly held, leaving out vehicles. If it is over $208,850, your heirs face probate for those assets.
Look at the people. Children under 18, a blended family, a beneficiary with a disability or a spending problem, or a family history of dementia are each reasons for a trust regardless of the totals above.
Check your beneficiary designations. Name a contingent beneficiary on every retirement account and policy, and consider naming the trust for a minor child's share.
If you sign a trust, fund it the same month. Record the deed, retitle bank and brokerage accounts, and keep a list of what the trust holds.

If none of the steps points to a trust, a will plus a durable power of attorney and an advance health care directive is a reasonable plan for now. Revisit it when you buy property, have a child, marry or divorce. Our living trust and will package explains what each document in a full plan does.

Questions

Do I need a living trust if my California home is worth less than $750,000?

Not always. For deaths on or after April 1, 2025, a primary residence worth $750,000 or less can pass to your heirs by a court petition under Probate Code §13151 instead of full probate. That petition still costs $435 to file ($450 in Riverside and San Francisco counties), cannot be filed until 40 days after the death, and requires notice to every heir. It does not cover a rental, a second home, or a home that has grown past $750,000 by the date of death. A trust avoids the court filing altogether and also covers incapacity.

Do I need a living trust if I rent and have no real estate?

Often not yet. If your California property, not counting accounts with a named beneficiary, joint tenancy property and vehicles, is $208,850 or less, your heirs can collect the personal property with the Probate Code §13100 affidavit 40 days after death, with no court case. A will, a durable power of attorney and an advance health care directive usually cover a renter. Revisit the question when you buy property or your accounts grow past that limit.

We are married and everything is community property. Do we still need a trust?

The first death is usually manageable without one: property left to the surviving spouse passes without probate under Probate Code §13500, although a spousal property petition under §13650 ($435) is often needed to clear title to real estate. The problem is the second death. Whatever the survivor owns at that point goes through probate unless it qualifies for a small estate procedure. A joint trust handles both deaths and either spouse's incapacity.

I own land in another state. Does that change the answer?

Usually yes. Each state applies its own law to land inside its borders, so your family would usually have to open a separate ancillary proceeding where the land is located. Deeding the out-of-state land into your trust, using a deed that meets that state's rules, avoids the second proceeding.

Does a living trust name a guardian for my children?

No. A guardian of your children is nominated in a signed writing, usually the will that goes with the trust (Probate Code §§1500 and 1502). The trust does the other half of the job: it holds the money for the children and lets you choose the age they receive it, instead of a court guardianship of the estate that ends at 18.

Will a revocable living trust protect my assets from creditors or a Medi-Cal claim?

Not from your own creditors while you are alive: under Probate Code §18200 trust property is subject to your creditors to the extent you can revoke the trust. For Medi-Cal, estate recovery for deaths on or after January 1, 2017 reaches only the probate estate (Welfare and Institutions Code §14009.5), so a home held in a funded trust is outside that claim. A trust does not change Medi-Cal eligibility rules.

Can I sign a trust now and move my house into it later?

You can, but the trust does nothing for the house until the deed is recorded. If you die before then, your family needs a court proceeding to transfer the house; if you lose capacity, your successor trustee has no authority over it. Our office prepares the deed for $100 per property and you record it with the county recorder; a deed into your own revocable trust is not a change in ownership for property tax (Revenue and Taxation Code §62(d)).

Does a living trust save estate tax?

For most California families, no. The federal estate tax exclusion is $15,000,000 per person for 2026, so most estates owe no estate tax with or without a trust. A revocable trust is about avoiding probate and handling incapacity, not about tax.

Sources

Checked October 6, 2026. Dollar limits are adjusted every three years; confirm the figure for the date of death.

This article is general information about California law, not legal advice for your situation. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.

Legal Review By

Rozsa Gyene, Esq.

California State Bar #208356 | Licensed Since 2000

25+ years estate planning experience in California