Living Trusts & Wills Lawyer in Encinitas, CA

A revocable living trust is a legal tool that holds and manages your assets during your lifetime and allows them to be distributed after your death—without going through probate. You can revoke or modify the trust at any time while you're alive, giving you flexibility and control.

A Will is a legal document that outlines how your assets should be distributed after you pass away. A Pour-Over Will works alongside a trust and ensures that any assets not already in your trust are transferred ("poured over") into it when you die. It acts as a safety net, making sure everything is handled according to your wishes.

After you pass away a Will must be filed with probate court and becomes a public document. A Revocable Living Trust, on the other hand, is a private document. A Will is only used after your death, whereas a Trust can hold your assets during your lifetime as well.

It depends on your goals, but in many cases, YES. While a Will ensures your wishes are carried out after you pass, a Trust offers additional benefits like avoiding probate, distributing assets to your beneficiaries in the way you desire, and simplifying the management of your assets if you become incapacitated.

You should review and update your estate plan whenever there’s a significant life event—such as marriage, divorce, the birth of a child, a major financial change, or a move to a new state. It's also a good idea to review your documents every 3–5 years even if nothing major has changed.

Yes, you can—and should—update your Will and Revocable Living Trust as your life circumstances or wishes change. Wills and Revocable Living Trusts can be amended over your lifetime. It’s important to work with an attorney to ensure any updates are legally valid and properly executed.

If you pass away without a valid Will or Trust, the State of California will decide how your assets are distributed through a process called intestate succession. This may not reflect your wishes and can cause unnecessary delays and stress for your loved ones.

Probate is the court-supervised process of validating a will (if there is one) and distributing a person’s assets, in addition to paying their debts after they die. It can be time-consuming, public, and costly—especially in California. Many families choose to create a trust to avoid the probate process.

Most people prefer to avoid probate in California since it is a long, expensive, and public process. There is, however, a Small Estate Affidavit Process that allows certain estates to be administered outside of probate if they are valued at less than $208,850 as of April 1, 2025.

Not at all. Trusts are a smart estate planning tool for anyone who owns a home, has minor children, or wants to avoid probate. Many California families use trusts to protect their assets, simplify inheritance, and plan for the future, regardless of their net worth.