Estate planning & probate
If you do not make a plan, California will make one in public.
Without a will or a trust, the state decides who administers your estate, who receives your assets, and who raises your minor children. The proceeding is public, and the cost of probate often exceeds the cost of planning.
Will or trust?
A will is usually cheaper to create. You do not have to retitle assets into a trust. A trust, properly funded, can avoid probate, move faster after death, stay private, and provide for a successor trustee if you become incapacitated. The right choice depends on what you own and whom you need to protect.
Documents almost everyone needs
A durable power of attorney lets an agent manage property, handle taxes and benefits, and nominate a conservator if you cannot act. A health care directive lets an agent decide on care, caregivers, end-of-life treatment, autopsy, organ donation, and disposition of remains, within the limits you set. If you have minor children, naming a guardian is one of the most important decisions in the file: who raises them, and who manages their money, are not always the same person.
Probate
Probate is both a court process and, in many California counties, a department of the Superior Court. The court supervises transfer of a decedent’s property by will or by intestacy. An executor or administrator collects assets, pays debts, and distributes what remains. The process is public, can take many months, and is expensive. Some smaller estates and some assets that pass outside probate — joint tenancy, trust property, life insurance, certain pay-on-death accounts — can avoid a full administration. We sort which path applies before anyone files a petition out of panic.
The Probate Court also hears trust administration, guardianships, conservatorships, powers of attorney, name changes, and will or trust contests. If there is a fight over a document, get counsel in early.