The right legal form does two jobs: it carries out your wishes, and it meets the technical requirements California law sets for that document. A form that misses a signature rule, uses an out-of-date dollar limit, or was written for another state can be rejected by a bank, a county recorder, or a probate court at the moment your family needs it to work.

A revocable living trust lets a Californian keep full control of property during life and pass it at death without a probate proceeding. It is the central document in most California estate plans, largely because probate here is slow, public, and priced by statute on the gross value of the estate. This article explains how the trust works, what it does and does not accomplish, and where trusts go wrong.

When the settlor of a California revocable living trust dies, the successor trustee has 60 days to serve a written "notification by the trustee" on every trust beneficiary and every heir of the settlor. The duty comes from Probate Code section 16061.7. It cannot be waived by the trust instrument, and a trustee who skips it is personally exposed to damages.

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