Estate Planning & Administration in California
Estate planning is how you decide who receives your property, who makes decisions if you become incapacitated, and how to spare your family the cost and delay of probate. This hub covers wills, revocable living trusts, ways to keep assets out of probate, and incapacity documents — in plain English, with the California law behind each.
By Find Local Law Editorial Team · Last reviewed: May 24, 2026
Researched and drafted with AI assistance and verified against primary sources (statutes, Judicial Council forms, and official court websites). This is general information, not legal advice.
A complete California estate plan usually combines a few documents: a will to direct who receives your property, a revocable living trust to keep assets out of probate, beneficiary designations and other non-probate transfers, and a durable power of attorney plus an advance health care directive for the years you may not be able to decide for yourself. The guides below explain each one in plain English, with the California law behind it — and how they fit together. A common goal ties them together: sparing your family the cost and delay of probate.
Guides
- How to Avoid Probate in California
You can keep assets out of California probate with a living trust, a transfer-on-death deed for real estate, pay-on-death and beneficiary designations, joint tenancy or community property with right of survivorship, and the small-estate affidavit for estates of $208,850 or less.
- Powers of Attorney & Advance Health Care Directives in California
A durable power of attorney lets someone manage your finances if you become incapacitated, and an advance health care directive lets someone make medical decisions and records your wishes. Signing both ahead of time can spare your family a court conservatorship.
- Revocable Living Trusts in California
A revocable living trust holds title to your assets during life (you stay in control), then passes them to your beneficiaries through a successor trustee at death — without probate, because trust-titled assets aren't part of the probate estate.
- Will vs. Living Trust in California
The core difference: a will still goes through probate, while a revocable living trust avoids it. A will is simpler and cheaper to set up; a trust costs more up front but saves your family the time, cost, and publicity of probate — which matters most if you own real estate.
- California Wills: Requirements & How They Work
To make a valid California will you must be at least 18 and of sound mind, and the will must be in writing and signed. A typed will also needs two witnesses who are present at the same time; a fully handwritten (holographic) will needs no witnesses.
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