Living Trust California Law

This is a complicated process but essentially the state will determine who gets the property based on their relationship to you.

Living trust california law.

Visit the san diego law office of david w. A trust is an arrangement under which one person called a trustee holds legal title to property for another person called a beneficiary. Where wills simply define how your assets will be transferred after you die trusts can hold assets during your lifetime. To learn more about serving as a trustee see nolo s the trustee s legal companion.

You can be the trustee of your own living trust keeping full control over all property held in trust. What is a living trust. A living trust is a legal tool for financial planning that allows a person trustee to hold another person s settlor s property for the benefit of someone else beneficiary. California does not use the uniform probate code which simplifies the probate process so it may be a good idea for you to make a living trust to avoid california s complex probate process.

In california estates with a market value over 150 000 may be subject to the full probate process and a simplified process is available for estates worth less than 150 000. Read more california living trust vs. Revocable living trusts are used by thousands of people in california to avoid having their estates go through the probate process. A california living trust is a legal document that places some or all of your assets in the control of a trust during your lifetime.

Depending on your own financial situation they might be appropriate but they are not for everyone. A living trust is a form of estate planning that allows you to control your assets your money and property while you are still alive but have it distributed to people or organizations you select when you die. California living revocable trusts some people choose to establish revocable living trusts instead of using wills. California probate code section 15400 says that a trust is revocable unless expressly made irrevocable.

Generally if you die without a will trust or other provision for the distribution of your money and property that money and property will be distributed according to california law. However california does have two procedures that fast track the probate process for smaller estates using simplified probate processes. You continue to be able to use the assets for example you would live in and maintain a home that is placed in trust. Living trusts begin at 695.