Living Trust Attorney in Riverside, California
A revocable living trust can help protect your family, avoid probate, and make the administration of your estate easier for the people you love. Elia Law provides personalized living trust and estate planning services for individuals and families in Riverside and throughout California.
Attorney Brooke Elia works directly with each client to create an estate plan tailored to their family, assets, and goals. With a streamlined virtual process, you can complete your estate planning conveniently while receiving personalized attorney guidance from start to finish.
What Is a Revocable Living Trust?
A revocable living trust is a legal document that allows you to manage your assets during your lifetime and determine how they will be distributed after your death. While you are living and able, you generally remain in complete control of the property held in your trust.
A properly created and funded living trust can also allow your assets to pass to your beneficiaries without going through probate, providing a more private and efficient way to administer your estate.
How Does a Living Trust Help Avoid Probate in California?
Assets properly transferred to your living trust during your lifetime generally do not need to go through probate after your death. Instead, the successor trustee you have chosen can manage and distribute those assets according to the instructions in your trust.
Avoiding probate can save your family significant time and expense while keeping the administration of your estate more private. For many California homeowners, probate avoidance is one of the primary reasons for creating a living trust.
Do I Need a Living Trust in California?
Not everyone needs the same type of estate plan. However, a living trust may be particularly beneficial if you own real property, have minor children, want greater control over how your assets are distributed, or simply want to make things easier for your family after your death.
Your estate plan should reflect your particular family, assets, and goals rather than relying on a one size fits all approach.
What is Included in a California Estate Plan?
A comprehensive estate plan involves more than just a living trust. Depending on your circumstances, your plan may include a revocable living trust, pour over will, durable power of attorney, Advance Health Care Directive, and documents necessary to transfer appropriate assets into your trust.
These documents work together to address not only what happens after your death, but also who can make financial and healthcare decisions for you if you become unable to make those decisions yourself.
Frequently Asked Questions About Living Trusts
What happens to my home?
For California homeowners, creating the trust is only part of the process. Your home generally must also be properly transferred into the trust for the trust to accomplish its intended probate avoidance purpose.
When appropriate, Elia Law prepares the deed necessary to transfer your California real property into your living trust and provides instructions for completing the transfer.
Does a living trust avoid probate in California?
A properly created and funded living trust can allow assets held in the trust to pass to your beneficiaries without probate. Assets that are never transferred into the trust may still be subject to probate depending on the circumstances.
Do I still need a will if I have a living trust?
Yes. A comprehensive trust based estate plan generally includes a pour over will in addition to the living trust. The two documents serve different purposes and work together as part of your overall estate plan.
Can I change my living trust?
Generally, yes. A revocable living trust can typically be amended or revoked while you are living and have capacity, allowing your estate plan to change as your family, assets, and wishes change.
Do I lose control of my property when I put it into my trust?
Generally, no. With a typical revocable living trust, you continue to control and manage the assets in your trust during your lifetime while you are able to do so.
Can I create a living trust if I have minor children?
Yes. A living trust can be particularly useful for parents because it allows you to establish instructions for how and when your children receive their inheritance rather than having assets distributed to them outright at a young age.
A Simple, Virtual Estate Planning Process
Based in Riverside and serving clients throughout California, Elia Law offers a streamlined virtual estate planning process designed to make creating your living trust convenient and straightforward.
You will work directly with Attorney Brooke Elia to create a personalized estate plan based on your family, assets, and goals.