Estate planning is not simply about deciding what happens to your property after you die. A thoughtful estate plan can help protect your family, establish who can make important decisions if you become incapacitated, provide direction for your assets, and reduce unnecessary uncertainty for the people you care about.
For California families, homeowners, professionals, retirees and business owners, those decisions can become especially important as property values increase, families change and financial lives become more complex.
At LaVelle Law Offices, our estate planning attorneys help individuals and families throughout California create personalized plans designed around their assets, their families and their long-term goals.
Whether you are creating your first estate plan or reviewing documents prepared years ago, these eight areas are a good place to start.
Key Takeaways
- Estate planning is important for adults at many stages of life—not only high-net-worth individuals.
- A California estate plan may include a revocable living trust, will, durable power of attorney and advance healthcare directive.
- A will and a living trust perform different functions and are often used together.
- Properly structuring and funding a living trust may help certain assets avoid probate.
- Estate plans should be reviewed after significant family, financial or property changes.
- Beneficiary designations and asset ownership should coordinate with your overall estate plan.
- California residents should consider both what happens after death and during a period of incapacity.
- Personalized legal guidance can help ensure your documents work together rather than simply existing as separate forms.
1. Decide What You Want Your Estate Plan to Accomplish
Before preparing legal documents, consider what you actually want your plan to do.
For some families, the primary goal is making sure a home passes efficiently to children. For others, it may be protecting a surviving spouse, planning for young children, providing for a family member with special needs, leaving assets to grandchildren or supporting a charitable organization.
Your estate plan can also address questions such as:
- Who should inherit your property?
- Who should manage your financial affairs if you cannot?
- Who should make healthcare decisions for you?
- Who would care for minor children?
- How should a family business be handled?
- Are there beneficiaries who may need additional protections?
- Do you want to leave money or property to a nonprofit or charitable organization?
Estate planning starts with those goals—not with a stack of documents.
Learn more about what estate planning involves.
2. Determine Whether a Revocable Living Trust Makes Sense
What Is a Revocable Living Trust?
A revocable living trust is an estate planning tool through which assets can be held and managed during your lifetime and ultimately distributed according to the terms of the trust.
While you are living and capable, you generally retain control over assets placed into your revocable trust. You can also establish who will step in as successor trustee if you become unable to manage the trust or after your death.
For many California homeowners, a living trust is an important part of the estate planning conversation.
Can a Living Trust Help Avoid Probate in California?
When properly created and properly funded, a revocable living trust can allow certain trust-owned assets to pass to beneficiaries without formal probate.
That last part is important.
Creating a trust document without transferring the appropriate assets into the trust may not accomplish the intended result. Estate planning therefore involves more than signing documents—it also involves making sure ownership and beneficiary arrangements coordinate with the plan.
You can learn more about California estate planning and living trusts.
3. Don’t Assume a Living Trust Replaces Your Will
One of the most common estate planning questions is:
“If I Have a Living Trust, Do I Still Need a Will?”
Often, yes.
A trust and a will serve different purposes.
A will can address assets that were not transferred into your trust and can also document important wishes such as your nomination of guardians for minor children.
Many comprehensive estate plans therefore include both a revocable living trust and a pour-over will designed to work with that trust.
It’s also important to understand that having a will alone does not automatically mean an estate will avoid probate.
Read more about why you may still need a will.
4. Plan for Incapacity—not Only Death
This is one of the most frequently overlooked parts of estate planning.
A strong estate plan should answer:
What happens if I am alive but temporarily or permanently unable to make decisions for myself?
An accident, illness or unexpected medical event can happen at virtually any age.
Two important estate planning documents can help address that possibility.
Durable Power of Attorney
A durable power of attorney allows you to designate a trusted person to handle certain financial or legal matters if necessary.
Depending upon how your plan is structured, this could involve matters such as:
- Paying bills
- Managing financial accounts
- Handling business or property matters
- Communicating with financial institutions
- Managing other financial responsibilities
Advance Healthcare Directive
An advance healthcare directive can identify the person you want making healthcare decisions if you cannot communicate those decisions yourself and can document certain healthcare preferences.
Estate planning is therefore not just about protecting your family after you’re gone. It is also about protecting you during your lifetime.
5. Review How Your Assets Are Actually Owned
A beautifully drafted estate plan cannot work as intended if your assets don’t coordinate with it.
Consider reviewing items such as:
- Your primary residence
- Rental or investment property
- Bank accounts
- Brokerage accounts
- Retirement accounts
- Life insurance
- Business interests
- Vehicles and valuable personal property
- Digital assets
- Beneficiary designations
Some assets may be appropriate to title in a trust. Others may transfer according to a beneficiary designation or another legal mechanism.
The goal is to make sure your trust, will, account ownership and beneficiary designations work together rather than inadvertently contradicting one another.
6. Think About the People You’re Protecting
Estate planning becomes particularly important when other people depend upon you.
Parents of Minor Children
Parents should consider who they would want caring for their children if both parents were unavailable.
Your estate plan can also establish how inherited assets should be managed for children rather than leaving major financial decisions unanswered.
Blended Families
Second marriages and blended families can create estate planning considerations that may not exist in a traditional family structure.
A plan may need to balance providing for a current spouse while preserving an intended inheritance for children from a previous relationship.
Beneficiaries With Special Circumstances
An outright inheritance isn’t always appropriate.
A beneficiary could be young, financially inexperienced, living with a disability or receiving needs-based public benefits. Estate planning allows families to discuss whether additional trust planning may be appropriate.
Charitable Giving
Estate planning can also provide an opportunity to support causes that matter to you.
Depending upon your goals and circumstances, charitable organizations may be included as beneficiaries within an estate plan.
7. Review Your Estate Plan After Major Life Changes
Estate planning isn’t something you necessarily complete once and forget forever.
Your life changes. Your assets change. Your family changes. Laws can change as well.
Consider reviewing your estate plan following events such as:
- Marriage
- Divorce
- Birth or adoption of a child
- Death of a spouse or beneficiary
- Death or incapacity of a trustee or agent
- Purchase or sale of real estate
- Starting or selling a business
- Significant increase or decrease in assets
- Moving to California from another state
- Changes in family relationships
- Changes in your charitable intentions
Even without a major event, periodically reviewing your documents can help determine whether they still reflect your current wishes.
For additional answers, visit our Estate Planning Attorney FAQs.
8. Make Sure Your Family Knows a Plan Exists
Your beneficiaries don’t necessarily need to know every financial detail of your estate, but the people responsible for carrying out your wishes should generally know that a plan exists and where important information can be located.
Consider whether your designated trustee, executor, financial agent or healthcare agent knows:
- That you selected them
- Where important documents are stored
- How your attorney can be contacted
- Where necessary account or property information can be found
- What responsibilities they may eventually be asked to assume
A plan that no one can locate in an emergency creates unnecessary complications.
Estate Planning for California Families, Homeowners & Business Owners
California is home to very different communities, property markets and family circumstances—but the fundamental estate planning questions remain remarkably similar:
Who do I want to protect?
What happens to the assets I’ve worked to build?
Who makes decisions if I can’t?
How can I make things easier for the people I leave behind?
LaVelle Law Offices works with individuals and families throughout California, with office locations serving Oakland, Pleasanton, San Jose, San Francisco, Sacramento, Lathrop/Stockton and San Diego.
That allows our attorneys to help clients across the Bay Area, Tri-Valley, South Bay, San Francisco, Sacramento region, Central Valley and Southern California address their estate planning needs.
View LaVelle Law Offices’ California locations.
Frequently Asked Questions About Estate Planning in California
Do I Need an Estate Plan If I Don’t Consider Myself Wealthy?
Estate planning isn’t reserved for wealthy families.
If you have children, own property, have financial accounts, want to choose who makes decisions for you or simply want more control over what happens to your belongings and affairs, estate planning may be worthwhile.
What’s the Difference Between a Will and a Living Trust?
A will provides instructions regarding your estate and can nominate an executor and guardians for minor children. A properly funded living trust can hold and manage assets during your lifetime and may allow certain assets to transfer outside formal probate.
The two documents are frequently used together as part of a comprehensive estate plan.
Does Having a Will Avoid Probate in California?
Not necessarily.
An estate can still require probate even when the person had a valid will. Whether probate is required depends upon the type and ownership of assets and the circumstances of the estate.
Does a Living Trust Avoid Probate?
Assets properly transferred into and administered through a living trust can often pass to beneficiaries without formal probate. However, simply signing a trust does not automatically move every asset into it.
When Should I Update My Estate Plan?
You should consider reviewing your plan after major changes involving your marriage, family, finances, real estate, business interests, beneficiaries or the people you’ve selected to act on your behalf.
Can an Estate Plan Include Charitable Gifts?
Yes. Depending upon your goals and circumstances, an estate plan can provide for charitable organizations as well as individual beneficiaries.
Start Your California Estate Plan With LaVelle Law Offices
There is no single estate plan that works for every California family.
A young family purchasing its first home may have very different priorities than a business owner approaching retirement, a grandparent planning an inheritance or an individual who wants part of an estate to benefit charitable organizations.
The common goal is clarity.
You should be able to decide who you want to protect, who you trust to make important decisions and how you want the assets you’ve built to be handled.
LaVelle Law Offices provides personalized estate planning guidance to individuals and families throughout California.
Whether you need to create a new estate plan, establish a living trust, prepare or update a will, address powers of attorney and healthcare directives, or review an existing plan, our attorneys can help you understand your options.
Schedule an Estate Planning Consultation
Don’t wait for an emergency to determine whether your estate plan is ready.
Contact LaVelle Law Offices to schedule a consultation with an estate planning attorney serving your area.
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This article is provided for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Estate planning needs vary according to individual circumstances. Consult a qualified attorney regarding your specific situation.
