Reviewed by Rozsa Gyene, California attorney. Last reviewed October 2026.
Plain definitions of 119 terms you will meet in a California living trust, will, probate or property tax matter. Each entry names the California statute or federal source that governs it and links to the page on this site that covers it in more depth.
Type a word, such as deed or trustee. The filter searches term names and definitions.
119 terms, A to Z.
Figures checked October 7, 2026. Each figure comes from the statute or official page cited with it.
General information, not legal advice. These definitions summarize California and federal law as of October 2026. They do not create an attorney-client relationship. Laws change and your situation may differ; talk to a California attorney before you act.
A joint trust design in which, at the first spouse's death, the deceased spouse's share goes into a separate trust that becomes irrevocable, often for the survivor's benefit, while the survivor's share stays revocable. No statute requires the split; it depends on how the trust is written.
A trustee's report of what came into the trust, what was paid out, and what remains. A California trustee must account at least once a year, when the trust ends, and when the trustee changes, to each beneficiary who receives or may receive current distributions, unless an exception applies.
The person the probate court appoints to handle an estate when there is no will or no named executor can serve. When there is no will, the law sets the order of priority, starting with the surviving spouse or domestic partner, then children, grandchildren and other relatives.
A written document in which you name a health care agent, give instructions about your own medical care, or both. California's statutory form also lets you state your wishes about organ donation and name a primary physician.
A court form (DE-305) that lets heirs or beneficiaries take California real property without probate when all of the decedent's real property, not counting excluded assets, is worth $69,625 or less for deaths on or after April 1, 2025. It may be filed no sooner than six months after the death.
A sworn statement, recorded in the county where the property is located together with a certified copy of the death certificate, that puts an owner's death on the public record. Successor trustees and surviving joint tenants record one so the property can be sold, refinanced or retitled.
The person you name in a power of attorney to act for you. California law calls a financial agent an attorney-in-fact; the person you name in an advance health care directive is your health care agent.
A second probate in another state where the decedent owned real estate. Titling out-of-state real estate in your living trust is the usual way to avoid it. California has its own ancillary procedure for California property of a person who lived elsewhere.
The amount you can give each person in a year without using any of your lifetime federal gift and estate tax exclusion: $19,000 per recipient in 2026.
A short signed document that transfers household goods, jewelry, art and other items without a title into your living trust. It covers property that has no deed or account to retitle.
The paragraph at the end of a will, signed by the witnesses, stating that they saw the testator sign or acknowledge the will and understood it was the testator's will. When the witnesses sign it under penalty of perjury, the court can accept the will without calling them in, unless someone contests it.
The assessed value Proposition 13 fixes for a property, generally its market value when it was bought, newly built or last changed ownership. It may rise no more than 2 percent a year until the next change in ownership or new construction.
A person or organization that receives property under a will, a trust or a beneficiary designation. In a trust, anyone with a present or future interest, vested or contingent, is a beneficiary.
A form filed with a bank, insurer, retirement plan or brokerage naming who receives the account at your death. The asset passes outside probate and outside your will.
The claim form a child, or a grandchild whose parents have died, files with the county assessor for the Prop 19 parent-child exclusion. It is due within three years of the death or transfer, or before the property goes to a third party if earlier; a late claim can still get relief going forward.
A surety bond a court-appointed personal representative must post before letters issue, for the protection of beneficiaries, creditors and other interested persons. The court can excuse it if the will waives bond or all beneficiaries waive it in writing, though it may still require one for good cause.
California has no estate tax and no inheritance tax. The State Controller requires no California estate tax return for anyone who died after December 31, 2004.
A short notarized statement signed by the trustees that proves the trust exists, names the trustees and states their powers, so they do not have to hand over the whole trust. Banks and title companies may rely on it, and one that refuses it in bad faith and demands the full trust can be liable for the resulting damages and attorney's fees.
A transfer of a present interest in real property that leads the assessor to reassess it. Many transfers are excluded, including a transfer into your own revocable trust and transfers between spouses.
A form the trustee or new owner must file with the county recorder or assessor within 150 days after the death of a person who owned California real property. In a probate, the personal representative files it before or with the inventory and appraisal.
A later document that changes part of a will. California law treats it as part of the will, so it must be signed and witnessed the same way.
Property a married person acquires during the marriage while living in California, other than by gift or inheritance. At death, half belongs to the surviving spouse and the other half is the decedent's to leave. Registered domestic partners have the same rights.
A way for spouses or registered domestic partners to hold title so that when one dies, the property goes to the survivor without probate. The wording must appear on each deed or title, and either spouse can end the survivorship right during life the way a joint tenancy is severed.
A court case in which a judge appoints a conservator for an adult who cannot provide for personal needs (conservator of the person) or cannot manage money or resist fraud or undue influence (conservator of the estate). A durable power of attorney, an advance health care directive and a funded living trust usually make one unnecessary.
A backup beneficiary who receives a gift only if the first beneficiary dies first or the gift fails for another reason.
A creditor's written demand for payment from a probate estate. A creditor must file by the later of four months after letters are first issued to a general personal representative, or 60 days after notice of administration is mailed or delivered to that creditor.
A law that lets a custodian hold and manage property for a minor without a court guardianship. The custodian turns the property over at 18 by default, and a will or trust can delay that to an age up to 25.
A devise is a gift of property by will, and the devisee is the person who receives it. When a will leaves property to a trust, the trust or its trustee is the devisee, not the trust's beneficiaries.
Electronic records you own or control, such as online accounts, email, stored photos and cryptocurrency. California's Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act governs when an executor, trustee or agent can reach them.
A written refusal of an inheritance or other gift, so the property passes as if you had not received it. For an inheritance under a will or by intestacy, or property received through a beneficiary designation or joint tenancy, a disclaimer filed within nine months after the death is conclusively treated as filed in time.
A county tax on deeds of $0.55 per $500 of value where the county imposes it, and some cities add their own. A transfer into your own revocable trust usually pays no transfer tax because no price is paid; the deed states the exemption. Confirm with the county recorder.
A power of attorney that keeps working if you lose capacity, because it says so in the document. That is what makes it useful for planning: incapacity is when your agent is most needed.
The passing of property to the State of California when a person dies without a will and no relative qualifies to inherit. It happens only when no one qualifies under the intestate succession rules, which reach beyond grandparents and their descendants to other next of kin and a predeceased spouse's family.
Everything a person owns at death. The probate estate is only the part that has to pass through court; trust assets, joint tenancy property and accounts with named beneficiaries are outside it.
Assets left out when counting toward California's small estate limits, such as property in a revocable trust, joint tenancy property, accounts that pass to a surviving party or POD payee, and property passing to a surviving spouse.
The person named in a will to carry out its terms through probate. The named executor has the first right to appointment but has no power to administer the estate until the court issues letters testamentary.
Extra compensation the probate court may allow the executor or the executor's attorney for work beyond ordinary administration, if the court finds the amount just and reasonable. It is added on top of the statutory fees.
A court-ordered payment from a probate estate to support the surviving spouse, minor children and certain dependent family members while the estate is being administered.
The amount each person can leave free of federal estate tax: $15,000,000 for deaths in 2026, indexed for inflation after 2026. An estate above that amount, after deductions and taxable lifetime gifts, pays tax on the excess at a top rate of 40 percent.
A person who manages property or makes decisions for someone else and must act in that person's interest: a trustee, executor, administrator, guardian, conservator, agent under a power of attorney, or custodian for a minor.
Moving assets into the trust's name after it is signed: recording a deed for real estate, retitling bank and brokerage accounts, and assigning personal property. A trust controls only what it owns, so an asset left out may still need probate.
The standard California deed for transferring real property, in which the owner (the grantor) grants the property to the new owner (the grantee).
A person the court appoints to manage money or property that belongs to a minor. The court must appoint the person a parent nominated for this role unless that person is unsuitable.
An adult the court appoints to have custody of a minor child when no parent can care for the child. Parents can nominate one in a will or any signed writing, and the court decides based on the child's best interests.
The person you name in an advance health care directive to make medical decisions for you when you cannot make them yourself. You can also name alternates.
The person who makes medical decisions for a patient who cannot decide and has no agent, conservator or surrogate of the patient's own choosing. Your doctors may choose a surrogate who knows your values, from your spouse or domestic partner, adult children, parents, siblings, grandchildren, or another relative or close friend.
A petition asking the probate court to confirm that an asset the decedent meant to put in the trust, but left titled in his or her own name, belongs to the trust. It is named after a California appellate decision, Estate of Heggstad (1993) 16 Cal.App.4th 943.
A person entitled to inherit from someone who died without a will, under California's intestate succession rules. Heirs are set by law; beneficiaries are chosen in a will or trust.
A signed release that lets doctors and health plans share your medical information with the people you name. It helps your agent or successor trustee get the records that show you can no longer manage your own affairs.
A will whose signature and material provisions are in the testator's own handwriting. It is valid in California without witnesses, but an undated one can be partly invalid if there is another will and it is unclear which came later.
A property tax exemption of $7,000 of assessed value for an owner-occupied principal residence. Under Prop 19, a child who moves into an inherited family home must file for it, or for the disabled veterans' exemption, within one year.
Authority the probate court can grant under the Independent Administration of Estates Act so the personal representative can take many actions without court approval, after giving notice to interested persons who have not waived it. The court can grant full or limited authority.
The property tax rule that a transfer between spouses, including a transfer into a trust for a spouse or a transfer at a spouse's death, is not a change in ownership. The property keeps its assessed value.
The rules that decide who inherits when someone dies without a will. The surviving spouse takes the decedent's half of community property and a share of separate property, and the rest goes to children, then parents, then brothers and sisters and more distant relatives.
The list of probate assets, with their values, that the personal representative must file with the court within four months after letters are first issued. A probate referee appraises most assets other than cash.
A trust the settlor cannot revoke or change alone. A California trust is revocable unless the document expressly says it is irrevocable, and a living trust usually becomes irrevocable when the settlor dies.
A person's lineal descendants of every generation: children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and so on.
A way for two or more people to own property in equal shares with a right of survivorship. When one owner dies, the survivors own the property without probate, and the deceased owner's will or trust does not control that share.
One living trust made by spouses or partners together for their shared and separate property. Unless the trust says otherwise, each settlor can revoke it as to the property that settlor contributed.
What happens when a beneficiary dies before the person who made the gift. If the beneficiary was a relative of the person who made the gift or of that person's spouse, the beneficiary's descendants generally take the gift instead, unless the document requires the beneficiary to survive or names someone else.
The court document that gives the executor named in a will authority to act for the estate. Banks, title companies and others ask for a certified copy before they deal with the executor. When there is no will, the court issues letters of administration instead; when there is a will but no named executor serves, it issues letters of administration with the will annexed.
A trust you create during your life, usually as your own trustee, to hold your assets and name who manages and receives them when you die or cannot act. You can change or revoke it at any time, and assets titled in it pass to your beneficiaries without probate.
Delivering an original will to the superior court after the death. Whoever has the original must deliver it to the court in the county where the person lived within 30 days after learning of the death, and send a copy to the named executor; the court charges $50 to lodge a will in 2026.
The State's claim for repayment of certain Medi-Cal costs after a member dies. For deaths since January 1, 2017, recovery reaches only the probate estate, not trust, joint tenancy or transfer on death assets, and there is no recovery if a spouse or registered domestic partner survives, or a child under 21 or a blind or disabled child.
A person under 18. Property left to a minor needs a trust, a CUTMA custodian or a court guardianship of the estate to manage it, although if the child's total estate is $5,000 or less, it can be paid to a parent to hold for the child without one.
A provision that takes away the gift of a beneficiary who challenges the will or trust. California enforces one only against a direct contest brought without probable cause, and against property-ownership challenges or creditor claims if the clause expressly covers them.
A transfer at death that happens outside probate under a document other than a will, such as a trust, beneficiary designation, POD account or transfer on death deed.
A notary's certificate that the signer proved his or her identity and acknowledged signing the document. A deed must be acknowledged before it can be recorded, and transfer on death deeds and certifications of trust need one too; a will does not.
The notice that a probate petition has been filed and when it will be heard. It must be delivered to heirs and to beneficiaries and executors named in the will at least 15 days before the hearing, and also published in a newspaper.
A child born or adopted after all of a parent's wills and trusts were signed and not provided for in them. Unless an exception applies, the child receives the share the child would have inherited if the parent had left no will.
A spouse who married the decedent after all of the decedent's wills and trusts were signed and is not provided for in them. Unless an exception applies, that spouse receives the decedent's half of the community and quasi-community property and a share of separate property of no more than one half.
The form (BOE-502-A) the new owner files with a deed when it is recorded, telling the assessor about the transfer, including whether it is a transfer into a revocable trust. If a deed is recorded without one, the recorder may charge an extra $20.
A way of dividing a gift among descendants: the property is split into equal shares at the children's generation, and a deceased child's share passes down to that child's own descendants. In a California document, "per stirpes" and "by right of representation" mean this method unless the document says otherwise.
A dated list, in your handwriting or signed by you and referred to in your will, that says who receives particular items of tangible personal property such as jewelry or furniture. It may be written before or after the will, but it cannot cover money or property used in a business, and the Probate Code limits both the total value it can pass and the value of each item.
The general term for the person who administers a probate estate: an executor named in a will, an administrator appointed by the court, or a special administrator.
A trust that sets aside money for the care of an animal and names a caregiver. Since January 1, 2009, California Probate Code §15212 has made pet trusts fully enforceable.
A bank account payable during your life to you and, at your death, to the payee you name. The payee collects the balance without probate.
A surviving spouse's right to use the deceased spouse's unused federal estate tax exclusion. It is elected on Form 706, due nine months after the death with a six month extension available; if no return was otherwise required, the IRS allows a portability return up to the fifth anniversary of the death.
A will that leaves anything outside your living trust to the trustee of that trust. It catches assets you forgot to transfer, but those assets may still need probate before they reach the trust.
A written document in which you (the principal) give another person authority to act for you, usually for money and property. In California it must be dated, signed, and either notarized or signed by two qualified adult witnesses.
A simplified court petition (form DE-310) that passes the decedent's primary residence in California, worth up to $750,000, to the heirs or beneficiaries without full probate, for deaths on or after April 1, 2025. It may be filed 40 days after the death and carries a $435 filing fee ($450 in Riverside and San Francisco counties).
The superior court process that proves a will if there is one, appoints a personal representative, pays debts and distributes what is left. It is public, it lasts at least several months because creditors have four months after letters issue to file claims, and the executor and attorney are paid statutory fees based on the gross estate.
The court fee for the first petition in a California probate: $435 in most counties and $450 in Riverside and San Francisco counties in 2026. Publication, probate referee, bond and other costs are extra.
An appraiser appointed by the State Controller who values the non-cash assets in a probate estate. The commission is one tenth of one percent of the value appraised, at least $75 and no more than $10,000 unless the court allows more.
The constitutional limit that keeps the base property tax rate at 1 percent of assessed value, plus voter-approved local bonds, and lets assessed value rise no more than 2 percent a year until a change in ownership or new construction.
The rule since February 16, 2021 for parent-child transfers of real property. A child who inherits a parent's family home keeps the parent's taxable value only if the child makes it the child's principal residence and files for the homeowners' exemption within one year. If the home's market value is more than that taxable value plus $1,044,586 (transfers from February 16, 2025 to February 15, 2027), the excess is added to the taxable value.
The parent-child exclusion that applied before Prop 19. For transfers before February 16, 2021, it let a parent pass a principal residence, plus the first $1,000,000 of other real property, to a child without reassessment.
Personal property anywhere, and real property in California, that a spouse acquired while living outside California and that would have been community property if the couple had lived here at the time. At death, half of it belongs to the surviving spouse, as with community property.
A partner in a domestic partnership registered with the State of California. Registered domestic partners have the same rights and duties as spouses, including community property and inheritance rights.
What is left after all specific and general gifts have been made. The residuary clause of a will or trust names who receives it.
A new document that rewrites all the terms of an existing living trust while keeping the original trust in place, so assets already titled in the trust do not need new deeds or account changes. It is used when the changes are too many for a simple amendment.
A will is revoked by a later will that says so or is inconsistent with it, or by burning, tearing or destroying it with the intent to revoke it. Divorce or annulment revokes gifts and appointments to the former spouse unless the will says otherwise.
A $75 state fee charged when a real estate document is recorded, up to $225 per transaction for each parcel. 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)).
Property a married person owned before marriage or received by gift or inheritance, and the rents and profits from it. A married person can transfer separate property without the spouse's consent.
The person who creates a trust and puts property into it. In a living trust the settlor is usually also the first trustee and the main beneficiary while alive.
A signed declaration that lets heirs or beneficiaries collect a decedent's personal property without probate when the California estate, not counting excluded assets, is worth $208,850 or less for deaths on or after April 1, 2025. It may be used 40 days after the death and is not filed with the court.
A trust that holds money for a person with a disability so the money adds to, rather than replaces, needs-based benefits such as SSI and Medi-Cal. Family members fund one in their own plans; a court can also order a disabled person's own money into one.
A trust provision that stops a beneficiary from selling or pledging the beneficiary's interest and keeps creditors from reaching it before it is paid out, subject to exceptions in the Probate Code.
A court petition (form DE-221) asking the court to confirm that property passes to, or already belongs to, the surviving spouse or registered domestic partner without probate. There is no dollar limit, and the filing fee is $435 ($450 in Riverside and San Francisco counties).
The compensation California law sets for a probate executor and for the executor's attorney, each: 4 percent of the first $100,000 of the gross estate, 3 percent of the next $100,000, 2 percent of the next $800,000, 1 percent of the next $9,000,000 and 0.5 percent of the next $15,000,000. Mortgages and other debts are not subtracted.
California's fill-in form will printed in the Probate Code. It needs two witnesses, and the form itself says notarization does not take the place of the witnesses.
The reset of an inherited asset's tax basis to its fair market value at the date of death, which removes capital gains on growth during the owner's life and lowers the basis if the value fell. For community property, the whole property gets the new basis when either spouse dies, if at least half is included in the decedent's gross estate.
The person or company named in a trust to take over when the trustee dies, resigns or can no longer act. If no named successor can serve, the vacancy is filled by the method in the trust, and then by the fallback rules in the Probate Code.
The mental ability needed to make a will: understanding what a will does, the nature of your property, and your relationships to family and others affected by the will. Anyone 18 or older and of sound mind may make a will.
A trust created by a will. It comes into existence only after the will goes through probate, so unlike a living trust it does not avoid probate.
Registration of a brokerage account or security in transfer on death form, so it passes to the named beneficiary at the owner's death without probate.
A recorded deed that passes California real property to a named beneficiary at the owner's death without probate, and that the owner can revoke until death. It must be signed, dated, witnessed by two people present at the same time, notarized, and recorded within 60 days after the notary acknowledgment.
A change in the character of property between spouses, for example from community to separate property. It is valid only if made in writing with an express declaration by the spouse whose interest is adversely affected.
An arrangement in which a trustee holds property for the benefit of one or more beneficiaries under the terms of a trust instrument. A trust can be created by a declaration, a transfer during life, or a transfer at death.
The work a successor trustee does after the settlor dies: gathering assets, notifying beneficiaries and heirs, paying debts and taxes, keeping records and distributing property under the trust's terms. It happens without court supervision unless someone petitions the court.
A signed document that changes specific terms of a revocable trust without rewriting it. Unless the trust says otherwise, the settlor may modify it by the same procedure used to revoke it.
A lawsuit challenging the validity of a trust. A person served with the trustee's notification has 120 days after service, or 60 days after receiving a copy of the trust terms during that period if later, to bring it.
The deed that moves real property from you into your living trust. A transfer into your own revocable trust is not a change in ownership, so the property is not reassessed.
The person or company that holds and manages trust property under the trust's terms, solely in the interest of the beneficiaries. In a living trust you are usually your own trustee while you are alive and able.
The written notice a trustee must serve on beneficiaries and heirs no later than 60 days after a revocable trust becomes irrevocable at the settlor's death, or after another event in the statute. It starts the time limit for contesting the trust.
Excessive persuasion that overcomes a person's free will and produces an unfair result. California also presumes fraud or undue influence when a gift goes to the person who drafted the document or to certain care custodians, unless the presumption is overcome.
The California rule that a trustee must invest and manage trust assets as a prudent investor would, with reasonable care, skill and caution, judging each investment as part of the whole portfolio.
A signed document that says who receives your property at death and names an executor and, for minor children, a guardian. A California will needs two witnesses present at the same time unless it is a holographic will, and an estate above the small estate limits passes under it through probate.
A person who watches the testator sign a will, or hears the testator acknowledge the signature, and signs it too. The will stays valid if a witness receives a gift under it, but unless at least two other witnesses who receive nothing also signed, the witness is presumed to have obtained the gift by duress, menace, fraud or undue influence.
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Each definition was written by checking the statute it cites. The code links open the official text on leginfo.legislature.ca.gov. Dollar figures come from the Judicial Council (small estate limits), the Statewide Civil Fee Schedule (court filing fees), the Board of Equalization (Prop 19 and Prop 13) and the IRS (federal estate and gift tax). Where a term has no single statute, the entry says so.
No. It is general information about California law as of October 2026. A definition cannot tell you how the law applies to your family or your property; for that, talk to a California attorney.
Most California estate planning terms come from the Probate Code, the Family Code, the Civil Code and the Revenue and Taxation Code. The citation shows where the rule comes from, and the link opens the official text on the Legislature's website so you can read it yourself.
Yes. The small estate limits are adjusted under Probate Code §890; the Judicial Council adjusted them on April 1, 2022 and April 1, 2025, and the next adjustment is April 1, 2028. The Prop 19 amount is adjusted every two years: the Board of Equalization lists $1,000,000 from February 16, 2021, $1,022,600 from February 16, 2023 and $1,044,586 from February 16, 2025, and the next adjustment applies to transfers from February 16, 2027. The federal estate tax exclusion is indexed for inflation after 2026.
An attorney-prepared living trust is $400 for one person or $500 for a married couple. Moving your home into it takes a deed, which we prepare for $100 per property.
Law Offices of Rozsa Gyene, 3500 W. Olive Ave., Suite 300, Burbank, CA 91505. California State Bar #208356.
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California State Bar #208356 | Licensed Since 2000
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