The trust at the center of your plan.

A revocable living trust is a legal arrangement where you transfer your assets into a trust during your life, serve as your own trustee while you are able, and name a successor trustee to take over if you become incapacitated or die. Because the trust is revocable, you can amend, restate, or terminate it at any time. For tax purposes the trust is transparent: the IRS treats the assets as still belonging to you. The whole point of the trust is to avoid California probate at death and to put a single person in charge if you cannot manage your affairs during life.

A will alone leaves California assets to probate, a court supervised process that runs 9 to 18 months and carries statutory fees set by Probate Code Section 10810 (roughly $46,000 in combined attorney and representative fees on a $1 million estate). A fully funded living trust avoids probate entirely. The trust also handles incapacity: if you become unable to manage your affairs, the successor trustee steps in without a court conservatorship. A will only takes effect at death and does nothing for incapacity.

Funding is the step where you actually transfer your assets into the trust. The trust deed gets recorded against your home so the property is held in the trust’s name. Brokerage and bank accounts are retitled in the trust’s name. Beneficiary designations on retirement accounts and life insurance are updated to direct those benefits into the trust at death. Without funding, the trust is just a document. The most common reason California families file Heggstad petitions later is incomplete funding at the start.

Yes. Revocable means you can change it. Most updates take the form of an amendment (a short document that changes one or two provisions while leaving the rest intact) or a restatement (a complete rewrite that keeps the original trust name and date but replaces the body of the document). You can amend a revocable trust as often as you want during your life, as long as you have legal capacity. Once you die, the trust becomes irrevocable.

Not necessarily. Most California married couples use a single joint trust that holds both spouses’ assets. The trust splits into sub-trusts at the first death (a survivor’s trust and sometimes a credit shelter or QTIP trust) to handle tax planning and to protect the children’s share. For couples with significantly different separate property, blended families, or specific tax planning needs, separate trusts may fit better. Bob walks through the choice at the Plan Design Meeting.

Someone trustworthy, organized, and willing to take on the responsibility. Most California families name a spouse as initial successor and an adult child or sibling as alternate. For families with conflict potential, a professional fiduciary or trust company can serve as a neutral party. The successor trustee will have to give the Probate Code Section 16061.7 notice within 60 days of your death, prepare an accounting, file final tax returns, and distribute the trust according to its terms. It is real work; pick someone who can handle it.

A standard California estate plan from the Law Offices of Robert P. Bergman bundles the revocable living trust with a pour-over will, durable powers of attorney, and an advance health care directive. Final fees depend on the family situation and the complexity of the assets. Plans involving sub-trusts (special needs, dynasty, ILIT) or business interests are priced separately. Bob gives a written fee estimate at the Plan Design Meeting. The cost is almost always less than the cost of probate on the same estate.

The successor trustee you named takes over. They give the Probate Code Section 16061.7 notice to all heirs and beneficiaries within 60 days. They take control of the trust assets, prepare an inventory, file the final income and estate tax returns, pay any debts, and distribute the trust according to its terms. If sub-trusts are required (a survivor’s trust at the first death of a married couple, a special needs sub-trust for a disabled beneficiary), the trustee funds them at this stage. Bob represents successor trustees through the administration process. See the trust administration page for the full guide.

No. A revocable trust does not provide asset protection during your life because you retain control of the assets and can revoke the trust at any time. For tax and creditor purposes, the assets are treated as still belonging to you. Asset protection requires irrevocable structures (asset protection trusts, family limited partnerships, certain insurance products) which are entirely different planning. A revocable living trust solves probate avoidance and incapacity, not creditor risk.

You can, and many California families have, but the result is rarely what they expected. Online services produce a generic trust document that does not handle the funding step, does not coordinate with your beneficiary designations, and does not customize for California specific issues like Prop 19 planning, special needs preservation, or trust language for blended families. The most common reasons California families later file Heggstad petitions or end up in probate are that the original trust was a template that was never funded, or it failed to handle a situation the template did not anticipate. A specialist drafted plan costs more up front and usually saves the family more later.