How to Fund a Living Trust in California, Asset by Asset

How to Write the Trust's Name on Any Asset

California lets you create a trust by declaring that you hold your own property as trustee (Probate Code §15200(a)). Funding makes that declaration visible on each title, so banks, title companies and the DMV deal with your successor trustee without a court order. Copy the trust's name and date exactly as they appear on page one of the trust:

For a married couple, putting community property into a joint revocable trust does not change its character. Under Family Code §761, unless the trust or the deed says otherwise, community property moved into a trust that is revocable during the marriage stays community property, and it stays community property if it later comes back out. That matters for the tax basis at the first death, which our living trust tax guide explains.

Asset by Asset at a Glance

California Real Estate: The Deed

A home is usually the largest asset and the one most likely to force a probate if it stays in your name. Each property gets its own deed, recorded in the county where the land is, not where you live.

1. Pull your current vesting deed. You need the exact names on title, the assessor's parcel number and the legal description. Each owner whose share is going into the trust signs the new deed. If someone on title is not a settlor of the trust, ask us before anyone signs, because that deed can change who owns what. Our page on trust transfer deeds covers which deed fits which vesting.
2. Sign the deed before a notary. A grant deed or quitclaim deed cannot be recorded in California unless its signing is acknowledged (Government Code §27287).
3. Complete the Preliminary Change of Ownership Report. On the PCOR (form BOE-502-A), check the box for a transfer to a revocable trust that the transferor can revoke. A transfer by the trustor into a revocable trust is not a change in ownership (Revenue and Taxation Code §62(d)), so the Proposition 13 base value stays. If the deed is recorded without a PCOR, the recorder may charge $20 more (§480.3(b)).
4. State the transfer tax exemption on the deed. The county documentary transfer tax does not apply to a deed that puts land in trust by gift (R&T §11930), so the deed shows $0.00 and the reason. Some cities have their own transfer tax, but a transfer into your own revocable trust usually owes none because no price is paid. The deed states the exemption. Confirm with the county recorder.
5. Plan for the SB 2 fee. 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, second homes and vacant land, capped at $225 per transaction (Government Code §27388.1(a)(2)).
6. Record the deed. Send the original deed, the PCOR and the county's recording fee to the recorder for the county where the property sits. For a Los Angeles County home, our Los Angeles living trust page lists the recorder's office. The recorder mails the original back to the address in the "when recorded mail to" box.
7. Tell the lender and the insurer. Federal law bars a lender from calling a loan on a home of fewer than five units because of a transfer into an inter vivos trust in which the borrower is and remains a beneficiary (12 U.S.C. §1701j-3(d)(8)). Send the lender a copy of the recorded deed anyway, and ask your homeowner's insurer to add the trustee as an insured.

After a refinance or a purchase

Buy new property in the trustee's name from the start by giving escrow the exact trust name. If a lender asks you to deed the home out of the trust to refinance, record a new trust transfer deed into the trust after closing and check the recorded vesting. A home that ends up back in your own name at death is outside the trust.

Bank and Credit Union Accounts

Banks handle trust accounts every day. You have two ways to fund them.

Option 1: retitle the account

1. Bring the certification of trust that came with your trust, plus photo ID. A certification is a notarized statement, signed by all acting trustees, of the trust's existence, the trustees, their powers, whether the trust is revocable, and how title should be taken (Probate Code §18100.5(b), (c)).
2. The bank may ask for excerpts showing who succeeds you as trustee and the trustee's power for the transaction. The statute does not require you to show the distribution terms or the whole trust (§18100.5(e)). A business that, in bad faith, demands the trust documents instead of accepting a proper certification can be liable for the resulting damages, including attorney's fees (§18100.5(h)).
3. Sign the bank's trust account form. Many banks keep the same account number; some open a new account, in which case move your direct deposits and automatic payments.

Option 2: name the trust as payable-on-death beneficiary

For an account you want to keep in your own name, ask the bank to add the trustee of your trust as P.O.D. payee. At your death the balance belongs to the P.O.D. payee (Probate Code §5302(b)), and the account is left out when counting the estate for the small-estate affidavit (§13050(a)(2)). The difference is incapacity: a P.O.D. account does nothing while you are alive, so your successor trustee cannot use it if you cannot manage your affairs. Retitling covers both death and incapacity.

Brokerage Accounts and Stock

1. Ask the firm for its trust account application or "change of ownership to trust" form. Many firms accept it by upload with a copy of the certification of trust.
2. Give the account your own Social Security number on the W-9. While you can revoke the trust, the IRS treats you as owner of the trust property (IRC §676(a)), so the account reports income on your personal return and the change of title is not treated as a sale.
3. Check whether the old account had a transfer-on-death beneficiary. Once the trust owns the account, the trust's terms decide who receives it, so a leftover TOD registration that names different people should be removed.
4. For paper stock certificates, contact the company's transfer agent. It will usually want a stock power with a medallion signature guarantee from a bank or broker before it issues shares in the trustee's name.

IRAs, 401(k)s, Life Insurance and Other Beneficiary Assets

Retirement accounts stay in your name

An IRA is by definition an account for the exclusive benefit of an individual (IRC §408(a)), and any amount taken out of it is taxable income (§408(d)(1)). There is no way to retitle it to a living trust without taking the money out. A 401(k) or 403(b) works the same way through the employer's plan. You fund these by updating the beneficiary designation with the plan or custodian; the IRS notes that the owner must designate the beneficiary under the plan's own procedures.

• Married, 401(k): a plan subject to these rules pays your vested balance to your surviving spouse unless your spouse consents in writing, witnessed by a plan representative or a notary, to another beneficiary (IRC §§401(a)(11)(B)(iii), 417(a)(2)).
• Spouse as beneficiary: a surviving spouse who is the sole beneficiary has more options than other beneficiaries, including rolling the account into the spouse's own IRA, according to the IRS.
• Trust as beneficiary: for deaths after 2019, the IRS applies a 10-year rule to individual beneficiaries other than a spouse, the owner's minor child, a disabled or chronically ill person, or someone not more than 10 years younger than the owner. A beneficiary that is not an individual follows different rules. Naming the trust can make sense for minor children or a beneficiary with special needs, but the trust's wording then decides how the payout rules apply. Have your attorney review it before you name the trust.

Life insurance and annuities

A policy with a living named beneficiary pays outside probate, so it does not need to be retitled. The exception is minor children. Without a guardian of the estate, a parent may hold only up to $5,000 for a minor (Probate Code §3401); larger amounts usually require a court guardianship and are paid to the child at 18. Naming the trustee of your living trust as beneficiary, or as contingent beneficiary behind your spouse, lets the trust hold the money for the children on the terms you chose. HSAs follow the same pattern: name a beneficiary on the custodian's form.

Cars, Boats and RVs

Most people leave vehicles in their own name, for three reasons found in California law:

• DMV transfer without probate. When nothing else in the estate needs probate, the heirs or will beneficiaries can re-register a car with the DMV on an Affidavit for Transfer Without Probate (form REG 5), under Vehicle Code §5910.
• Vehicles do not count against the small-estate limit. Registered vehicles, numbered vessels and registered mobilehomes are left out when the estate is measured for the $208,850 affidavit (Probate Code §13050(b)).
• Transfer-on-death title. A vehicle with one owner can be titled "TOD" to one named beneficiary, who takes it at the owner's death without needing the beneficiary's signature for anything while the owner is alive (Vehicle Code §4150.7).

A collector car or a vehicle owned jointly with someone other than your spouse is worth a closer look. To put a vehicle in the trust, sign the title over to yourself as trustee and submit it to the DMV with a Statement of Facts (REG 256) and the transfer fee, as the DMV's title transfer page describes. Tell your auto insurer.

LLCs, Corporations and Other Business Interests

LLC membership interest

California's LLC statute splits an interest in two: the right to distributions (the transferable interest) and the right to vote and manage. An assignment alone passes only distributions and does not make the trustee a member (Corporations Code §17705.02(a)(3), (b)). After formation, a person becomes a member as the operating agreement provides or with the consent of all members (§17704.01(c)). A transfer that breaks a restriction in the operating agreement is ineffective against anyone who knew of the restriction (§17705.02(f)).

1. Read the operating agreement's transfer section. Some allow a transfer to the member's own revocable trust; if yours does not, get the other members' written consent.
2. Sign an assignment of your membership interest to yourself as trustee, and an acceptance by the trustee.
3. Update the LLC's list of members and its membership records. For a single-member LLC, you sign as the only member.

Our article on a trust versus an LLC covers when a rental belongs in an LLC owned by the trust, and living trusts for small business owners covers succession planning.

Corporate stock, including S corporations

Check the shareholder agreement and bylaws for transfer limits, sign a stock power, and have the corporation cancel the old certificate and enter the trustee in the stock ledger. A revocable trust can hold S corporation stock while you are alive because you are treated as its owner; after your death it remains an eligible shareholder under that rule for 2 years (IRC §1361(c)(2)(A)(i), (ii)). Within that window your successor trustee and the company's tax preparer must make the trust qualify another way or distribute the stock.

Sole proprietorship and partnership

A sole proprietorship is not an entity, so you fund its pieces: the business bank account, any real estate, and the equipment and receivables by written assignment. A partnership interest is assigned like an LLC interest, subject to the partnership agreement.

Land in Another State

A California trust can own a cabin in Arizona or a lot in Nevada, but the deed has to satisfy the law of the state where the land is and be recorded in that county. If it stays in your name, your family may need a separate probate in that state (ancillary probate) even though your California home avoided one. Have the deed prepared by someone who knows that state's forms and transfer taxes. Our article on out-of-state property covers which state's law governs and how ancillary probate works.

Household Goods, Art and Other Personal Property

Untitled personal property (furniture, jewelry, art, collections, digital files) is funded by a written general assignment to the trustee signed with the trust, and by listing important items on the trust's schedule of assets. In Estate of Heggstad (1993) 16 Cal.App.4th 943, the court held that a written declaration by the owner naming himself trustee was enough to put a property listed on the trust's schedule into the trust, without a separate deed. That case is a rescue, not a plan: it took a court proceeding. Deed real estate and retitle accounts; use the assignment for things that have no title.

If an Asset Was Left Out

Your pour-over will sends a forgotten asset to the trust, but only after the asset passes through probate. Before that, check these routes, in this order:

1. Petition to confirm the asset belongs to the trust. The trustee may ask the court to confirm trust ownership of property titled in someone else's name, including the deceased settlor's (Probate Code §850(a)(3)(B)). It works best when the asset is listed on the trust's schedule.
2. Small estate affidavit. If the California property outside the trust, not counting vehicles, trust assets, joint tenancy and P.O.D. accounts, is $208,850 or less for deaths on or after April 1, 2025, the heirs can collect the personal property by affidavit 40 days after the death without a court filing (§13100). Our small estate affidavit guide walks through it.
3. Primary residence petition. A home that was the decedent's primary residence, worth $750,000 or less, can pass by a court petition under §13151 for deaths on or after April 1, 2025, with a $435 filing fee ($450 in Riverside and San Francisco counties).
4. Full probate for anything larger.

Questions About Funding Specific Assets

Related Guides

• Living Trust Funding Guide: what funding is and the one-page checklist
• Trust transfer deeds in California: which deed you need
• Living trusts and California property tax (Prop 13 and Prop 19)
• California living trust and out-of-state property
• Successor trustee duties: the checklist after a death
• Every way to avoid probate in California, compared
• California probate cost calculator
• City pages: Los Angeles, San Diego, Napa, all locations

Sources

Checked October 6, 2026. Statute text was read at california.public.law and law.cornell.edu, which reproduce the official codes; the links below go to the official California Legislative Information site where one exists. Fees change; confirm with your county recorder before you record.

1. Probate Code §15200 (methods of creating a trust), California Legislative Information
2. Family Code §761 (community property in a revocable trust)
3. Government Code §27287 (acknowledgment required to record a deed)
4. Revenue and Taxation Code §62(d) (transfer into a revocable trust is not a change in ownership)
5. Revenue and Taxation Code §480.3 (PCOR and the $20 fee)
6. Revenue and Taxation Code §11930 (documentary transfer tax exemption)
7. Government Code §27388.1 (SB 2 fee and the owner-occupier exemption)
8. Change in Ownership FAQs, California State Board of Equalization
9. Preliminary Change of Ownership Report, BOE-502-A (P1) REV. 19 (05-25), Orange County Assessor copy
10. 12 U.S.C. §1701j-3(d)(8) (Garn-St Germain due-on-sale exemption), Legal Information Institute
11. Probate Code §18100.5 (certification of trust)
12. Probate Code §5302 (joint and P.O.D. accounts at death)
13. Probate Code §13050 (property excluded from the small estate count)
14. IRC §676 (revocable trust treated as owned by the grantor)
15. IRC §408(a) and (d)(1) (individual retirement accounts)
16. IRC §417(a)(2) (spousal consent)
17. IRC §401(a)(11)(B)(iii) (spousal death benefit in defined contribution plans)
18. Retirement topics: Beneficiary, Internal Revenue Service
19. Probate Code §3401 ($5,000 a parent may hold for a minor without a guardianship)
20. Vehicle Code §5910 (vehicle transfer without probate)
21. Vehicle Code §4150.7 (transfer-on-death vehicle title)
22. Title transfers and changes (REG 5, REG 256, REG 227), California DMV
23. Corporations Code §17705.02 (transfer of an LLC transferable interest)
24. Corporations Code §17704.01 (becoming an LLC member)
25. IRC §1361(c)(2) (trusts as S corporation shareholders)
26. Estate of Heggstad (1993) 16 Cal.App.4th 943, CourtListener
27. Probate Code §850 (petition to confirm property belongs to a trust)
28. Probate Code §13100 (small estate affidavit)
29. Probate Code §890 adjusted amounts ($208,850; $750,000), Judicial Council of California
30. Statewide Civil Fee Schedule effective January 1, 2026 (items 124 and 144), Judicial Council of California
31. Probate Code §10810 (statutory attorney fees); §10800 uses the same schedule for the executor