Revocable Living Trusts
Planning for ownership, management, incapacity and distribution of trust assets.
Learn more →Los Angeles County Living Trust Counsel
Living Trust Attorneys for California Families
Create, review or update a living trust with a plan built around your actual property, family and fiduciary choices—not a generic form.
What does a living trust do?
Answer first
A revocable living trust is an estate-planning arrangement that can hold assets during your lifetime, provide instructions for management if you become unable to act, and direct distribution after death. When assets are properly held in the trust, they generally can pass under the trust rather than through formal probate.
California Courts describes a living trust as part of an estate plan and explains that assets placed in the trust can pass to beneficiaries without probate. The important practical step is not just signing the document—it is coordinating ownership, beneficiary designations and successor decision-makers.
Living trust and estate planning services
Trust Amendments & Restatements
Update an older trust when family, assets, fiduciaries or planning goals have changed.
Learn more →Trust Funding Review
Identify which assets should be titled in the trust and which pass another way.
Learn more →Estate Planning
Coordinate the trust with a pour-over will, powers of attorney and health-care planning.
Learn more →Powers of Attorney
Plan for financial decisions if you cannot manage matters personally.
Learn more →Advance Health Care Directives
Document health-care agents and wishes as part of a coordinated plan.
Learn more →When should you consider creating or reviewing a living trust?
- You own California real estate.
- You want a named successor trustee to manage trust assets during incapacity.
- Your family or beneficiary circumstances have changed.
- Your existing trust is old or no longer matches current assets.
- You recently bought, sold, refinanced or transferred major property.
- You want to understand how retirement accounts and beneficiary designations fit with the trust.
Key point
A trust does not control every asset automatically. The way an asset is titled—and whether it has its own beneficiary designation—can determine how it passes. A funding review is therefore part of the legal planning, not an afterthought.
A practical planning process
Identify the people.
Choose trustees, successor trustees, agents and beneficiaries.
Choose trustees, successor trustees, agents and beneficiaries.
Inventory the assets.
Review real estate, bank and investment accounts, retirement plans, businesses and significant personal property.
Review real estate, bank and investment accounts, retirement plans, businesses and significant personal property.
Design the plan.
Decide who controls property, when beneficiaries receive it and what happens during incapacity.
Decide who controls property, when beneficiaries receive it and what happens during incapacity.
Coordinate and fund.
Align title, beneficiary designations and supporting documents with the plan.
Align title, beneficiary designations and supporting documents with the plan.
Review when life changes.
Update the plan after major family, property, business or fiduciary changes.
Update the plan after major family, property, business or fiduciary changes.
Living trust questions people ask before calling a lawyer
Do I need a living trust if I own a home in California?
Home ownership is a common reason to evaluate a living trust because properly trust-owned real estate can generally be administered under the trust rather than through formal probate. Whether a trust is appropriate depends on your property, family, goals and other transfer methods.
Does a living trust avoid probate?
A living trust can keep properly funded trust assets outside formal probate. Assets left outside the trust may still require a separate transfer procedure depending on how they are owned and their value.
Is a will the same as a living trust?
No. A will directs property through the probate process and can nominate guardians and an executor. A living trust can hold and manage assets during life and provide for administration after death. Many plans use both.
Can I change a revocable living trust?
Usually, yes, while the person who created the trust retains the legal power and capacity to amend or revoke it. The method depends on the trust terms and the change being made.
Los Angeles-area living trust locations
Local pages answer the most common planning questions for each community while keeping the legal guidance consistent.
Living Trust Attorney Woodland HillsLiving Trust Attorney CalabasasLiving Trust Attorney EncinoLiving Trust Attorney TarzanaLiving Trust Attorney Sherman OaksLiving Trust Attorney Studio CityLiving Trust Attorney BurbankLiving Trust Attorney GlendaleLiving Trust Attorney PasadenaLiving Trust Attorney Beverly HillsLiving Trust Attorney Santa MonicaLiving Trust Attorney Los AngelesLiving Trust Attorney Hidden Hills
Talk with a Los Angeles living trust attorney
Discuss a new trust, an older plan that needs review, trust funding, or a coordinated estate plan.