Reviewed by Rozsa Gyene, California attorney. Last reviewed October 2026.
Napa County hears probate in Courtrooms A and B of the Historic Courthouse at 825 Brown Street in downtown Napa. On Zillow's August 2026 typical Napa home value of $862,725, the statutory attorney and executor fees alone would total $40,509.00. A funded living trust keeps the home out of that courthouse for a $400 trust plus a $100 deed.
To keep a Napa home out of probate, sign a revocable living trust and record a deed moving the home into it at the Napa County Recorder. Without that deed, a home at Zillow's August 2026 typical Napa value of $862,725 goes through Napa County Superior Court, where statutory attorney and executor fees under Probate Code §10810 come to $40,509.00. The trust is $400 for one person or $500 for a couple.
Napa County does not run a separate probate courthouse. The court's civil division handles probate, guardianship and conservatorship cases at the Historic Courthouse on Brown Street, in downtown Napa. Local Rule 9.2 puts probate on the civil law and motion calendar in Courtrooms A and B, every Tuesday through Friday at 8:30 a.m., except the day after a court holiday.
Napa uses a tentative ruling system for probate. Under Local Rule 2.9 the tentative ruling is posted by 3:00 p.m. the court day before the hearing, on the court's website or at (707) 299-1270. A routine, unopposed petition is generally approved by tentative ruling without anyone appearing. If a party wants to argue, it must notify the court and every other party by 4:00 p.m. the day before. When a petition is opposed, Local Rule 9.2 says the first hearing will not be the evidentiary hearing; the parties appear to discuss any further opposition, discovery and alternative dispute resolution, and anyone who wants an evidentiary hearing gives an estimate of its length so a date can be set.
The court accepts electronic filing in probate cases through an approved electronic filing service provider (Local Rule 2.10), and remote appearances are made by Zoom under Local Rule 2.8. Its court reporting chart lists probate as a case type for which the court does not provide a shorthand reporter, so a party who wants a transcript of a contested probate hearing arranges a reporter on its own.
The building itself has a history that matters to Napa families. The South Napa earthquake of August 24, 2014 badly damaged the Historic Courthouse, and the court's own news release says the building stayed closed until January 7, 2019, when civil and probate matters returned to Courtrooms A and B. A trust administration has none of this: no petition, no tentative ruling to check, no Zoom check-in, and nothing filed in a public case file.
Signing the trust does not move your Napa home into it. The deed does. The deed runs from you as owner to you as trustee, describes the parcel by its legal description and Assessor's Parcel Number, and is recorded at First Street. On the PCOR you mark the box for a transfer to a revocable trust that you can revoke. Under Revenue and Taxation Code §62(d) that transfer is not a change in ownership, so the Napa County Assessor keeps your Proposition 13 base year value and no supplemental tax bill follows. See our guide to living trust property tax rules for more.
Napa County's documentary transfer tax is $0.55 for each $500 of value, and for property inside the City of Napa the city receives half of what the county collects. A deed into your own revocable trust involves no sale and no consideration, so the tax due is $0.00, with the Revenue and Taxation Code §11930 exemption declared on the face of the deed. The county also publishes a Documentary Transfer Tax Exemption Claim Form, signed under penalty of perjury, for exemptions that need a separate declaration. Our office prepares the deed and the PCOR for a separate $100 per property. You record it yourself, in person at First Street or by mail, and that recording is what actually funds the home into the trust. The page fees step up on January 1, 2027, when AB 2224 (Stats. 2026, ch. 292) makes the Government Code §27361 base fee $15.00 for the first page and $4.00 for each additional page.
See our trust transfer deed guide for the deed itself.
Zillow's Home Value Index put the typical home value in Napa at $862,725 for August 2026 (data through August 31, 2026). Redfin's median sale price for Napa was $864,428 in August 2026. The math below uses Zillow's typical home value (Zillow research data, August 31, 2026). Probate Code §10810 sets the attorney's fee as a percentage of the gross estate: 4% of the first $100,000, 3% of the next $100,000, 2% of the next $800,000 and 1% of the next $9 million. The value is gross, so a mortgage does not reduce it. Probate Code §10800 gives the executor the same amount.
Run your own numbers in the probate cost calculator
Our California probate fees guide explains each charge. Two shortcuts do not help a typical Napa homeowner. The small estate procedure under Probate Code §13100 stops at $208,850 for deaths on or after April 1, 2025, and the Probate Code §13151 petition for a primary residence stops at $750,000; a Napa home at $862,725 is over both, and the §13151 route is itself a court petition. Compare those figures with a $400 trust for one person or $500 for a married couple.
Napa had 79,246 residents in the 2020 Census and is the county seat. It is one of five incorporated cities in Napa County, with American Canyon, Calistoga, St. Helena and Yountville. Every parcel in the county, whether a bungalow near downtown Napa or a weekend place in Calistoga, is recorded at the same First Street office and assessed by the same Assessor. Each parcel still needs its own deed and its own PCOR. A trust that owns the Napa house but not the second parcel leaves the second parcel for probate. Property in Sonoma, Solano or Lake County is deeded the same way but recorded with that county's recorder.
Napa County created its Agricultural Preserve in 1968 (Board of Supervisors vote of April 9, 1968) and began signing Williamson Act contracts in 1969. The county Assessor reports that 84,955 acres on 955 separate parcels were under contract as of January 1, 2026, and that owners of contract land received a total reduction in assessed value of $14,056,807 for the 2026-2027 tax year. A contract keeps the land in agricultural use for at least ten years and renews itself each year unless someone files for nonrenewal. In general a parcel must be at least 10 acres of prime land, or 40 acres of land less suited to intensive farming, to qualify.
For a trust, three points follow. First, contract land is deeded into the trust like any other parcel, with its own deed and PCOR. Second, Napa County states that agricultural contracts run with the land and bind every successor in interest, so the trust, your successor trustee and your children all hold the land subject to the contract; the deed does not cancel it and does not end the restricted assessment. Third, a vineyard or winery that you own through an LLC or corporation is not deeded at all. The trust holds the membership interest or the shares, which are assigned to it, and the entity keeps title to the land.
A living trust avoids probate. It does not avoid reassessment when your children inherit. Proposition 19 limits the parent and child exclusion to a family home or a family farm. The Board of Equalization's claim form defines a family farm as real property under cultivation, used for pasture or grazing, or used to produce any agricultural commodity, and it asks separately whether a farm is continuing in that use. The exclusion is capped at the property's taxable value plus an adjusted $1 million, which is $1,044,586 for transfers from February 16, 2025 to February 15, 2027. Any value above that is added to the assessment. The claim, form BOE-19-P, is filed with the Napa County Assessor within three years of the death or before a transfer to a third party, whichever comes first. A trust can be written so the successor trustee knows which parcels may qualify and who is to receive them. Our Prop 19 inheritance guide covers the home side of the rule.
Much of central Napa sits near the Napa River and Napa Creek. The Napa River and Napa Creek Flood Protection Project, built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers with the Napa County Flood Control and Water Conservation District, has been under construction since 2000. FEMA's revised flood map for the city, the Napa Post-Bypass Letter of Map Revision, took effect January 22, 2019, and the District has secured about $48.3 million in federal money for the remaining floodwalls on the west bank, with completion expected in early 2028. When your house moves into the trust, tell your insurer and ask that the trust be added to the homeowner's and any flood policy. Keep the policy numbers and any elevation certificate with your trust papers so a successor trustee can find them.
The United States Geological Survey describes the August 24, 2014 South Napa earthquake as a magnitude 6.0 event on the West Napa Fault that damaged some wood-frame houses, older masonry buildings and the 1870 courthouse downtown. The State Fire Marshal released new fire hazard severity zone maps for local responsibility areas in 2025, and the City of Napa has adopted an ordinance on them; the state map viewer shows whether a given address is in a zone. Either kind of loss can arrive when an owner is ill or traveling. The trust names a successor trustee who can deal with the insurer and a contractor for property the trust holds, and the durable power of attorney in the package covers anything left outside the trust.
Values vary a great deal across the city. Zillow's August 2026 neighborhood figures run from $614,067 in Westwood and $690,361 Downtown to $1,182,132 in Browns Valley South and $1,249,495 in Riverpark, with Alta Heights, Coventry Manor and Napa Abajo in between. Every one of them is far above the $208,850 small estate limit. Many Napa lots now carry a second unit. The City treats an accessory dwelling unit as a ministerial building permit, and a junior unit is carved from a bedroom of the existing house, with the owner required to live in either the main house or the junior unit. Both sit on the same parcel, so the one trust transfer deed covers them. If you rent a unit, the lease and the deposit should move to you as trustee, and the trust should say who manages the rental if you cannot.
The Department of State Hospitals Napa opened on November 15, 1875, is the oldest state hospital still operating, and reports about 2,335 employees. The City's 2020 list of major employers also names Queen of the Valley Medical Center and Napa Valley College. Public pensions, 403(b), 457 and 401(k) plans and group life insurance pass by beneficiary designation, outside both the trust and the will. When we prepare your trust we go through those designations with you so they fit the plan.
The package is $400 for one person or $500 for a married couple, and a deed for your Napa home or any other parcel is a separate $100 per property. You can reach the attorney directly at (818) 337-4071. Everything is signed before a California notary, and there are notaries throughout Napa County. For how our pricing compares, see what a California living trust costs.
Napa County Superior Court hears probate at the Historic Courthouse, 825 Brown Street, Napa, CA 94559. Under Local Rule 9.2 probate matters are heard with civil law and motion, Tuesdays through Fridays at 8:30 a.m., in Courtrooms A and B. The probate clerk's line is (707) 299-1130. A Napa home held in a funded living trust passes without any filing there.
Zillow's typical home value for Napa was $862,725 for August 2026. Under Probate Code §10810 the statutory attorney fee on that gross value is $20,254.50, and the executor may take the same amount under §10800, for a combined $40,509.00. The $435 filing fee and the probate referee's commission of about $863 are on top of that. A living trust is $400 for one person or $500 for a married couple.
Only if the home is worth $750,000 or less. Probate Code §13151 allows a court petition for a decedent's primary residence up to $750,000 for deaths on or after April 1, 2025. The typical Napa home, at $862,725 on Zillow for August 2026, is above that limit, and even when the petition is available it is still a court filing in Napa County Superior Court.
The Napa County Recorder's 2026 fee schedule charges $15 for the first page and $3 for each additional page. A deed recorded without a Preliminary Change of Ownership Report costs $20 more. Documentary transfer tax is $0.00 on a deed into your own revocable trust. The $75 SB 2 housing fee is usually not charged on the deed for the home you live in, because the deed claims the owner-occupier exemption in Government Code §27388.1(a)(2), which Napa County's exemption claim form also lists. A rental, second home or vacant parcel pays it, capped at $225 per transaction. Our office prepares the deed for $100 per property and you record it.
No. Revenue and Taxation Code §62(d) says a transfer into a trust that you can revoke, for your own benefit, is not a change in ownership. The Napa County Assessor keeps your Proposition 13 base year value. You claim the exclusion on the Preliminary Change of Ownership Report filed with the deed.
Yes. The land is deeded to you as trustee like any other parcel, with its own deed and PCOR at the Napa County Recorder. Napa County states that agricultural contracts run with the land and bind all successors in interest, so the contract stays in place after the deed, and your successor trustee and beneficiaries take the land subject to it.
No. A trust avoids probate, not reassessment. A transfer to your children at death is a change in ownership unless the Proposition 19 parent and child exclusion applies. That exclusion covers a family home or a family farm, which the Board of Equalization defines as real property under cultivation, used for pasture or grazing, or used to produce an agricultural commodity. The exclusion is limited to the taxable value plus an adjusted $1 million, $1,044,586 for transfers from February 16, 2025 to February 15, 2027, and the BOE-19-P claim must be filed with the Assessor.
Checked October 6, 2026. Fees and addresses change; confirm with the office before you file or record.
An attorney-prepared living trust for $400, or $500 for a married couple, signed before any Napa County notary.
Law Offices of Rozsa Gyene, 3500 W. Olive Ave., Suite 300, Burbank, CA 91505. California State Bar #208356. Read client reviews.
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