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Estate planning · California
Estate planning under California law.
For families in the counties along the state line, and for Nevada families with a cabin, a parent, or a rental on the California side. The documents are the same as Nevada’s. The rules around them differ.
The short answer
A California estate plan is built from the same documents as a Nevada one: a revocable living trust or a will, a financial power of attorney, an advance health care directive, and the deed that puts the home into the trust. What changes is the law around them. California has its own statutory forms, a court-supervised probate that most homeowners plan to avoid, a state income tax that can reach trust income, and property tax rules that can reassess a home when it passes to the next generation. A plan for California property has to be written knowing all four.
Who this page is for
- California residents in the counties along the state line: Truckee and North Lake Tahoe, El Dorado, Plumas, and Lassen.
- Nevada families who own something in California: a cabin, a parent’s house, a rental, land that has been in the family for a generation.
- People who moved across the line in either direction and have a plan that was written for the state they left.
California-specific detail
Community property, with one extra rule
California is a community property state, so most of what a married couple earns or acquires during the marriage belongs to them half and half. California adds a rule Nevada does not mirror in the same way: property a couple acquired while living in another state is treated as if it were community property once they live in California. For a couple who moved in with assets built elsewhere, that can change what each spouse is free to leave.
Probate
A California probate runs through the superior court of the county where the person lived, or where the property sits if they lived elsewhere. It is court-supervised from the first petition to the final order, and it is public. California has an affidavit procedure for small estates and a separate simplified procedure for a primary residence, which the state expanded in 2025. Both ceilings change over time, so they are described here in words. For most homeowners, the practical answer is a revocable living trust that has been funded.
The deed is its own piece of work
Putting a California home into a trust takes a deed prepared for California and recorded with the county recorder where the land sits, along with the ownership report the county assessor requires with every recorded transfer. A trust that was signed but never funded leaves the house exactly where it was, which is a common defect in a plan someone brings in for review.
Property tax follows the transfer
California limits how fast a home’s assessed value can rise while the same owner holds it, and reassesses at current value when ownership changes. Moving your home into your own revocable trust is not a change of ownership. Leaving it to your children can be: the exclusion for transfers from parent to child was narrowed by a 2020 ballot measure that took effect in 2021, and it now turns largely on whether the child makes the home their own primary residence. A family cabin held for decades is where this matters most, so it is worth raising before the plan is signed.
Income tax reaches trusts
California has a state income tax, and it can tax the income of a trust based partly on where the trustee and the beneficiaries live. Naming a California relative as trustee of a family trust, or a Nevada relative as trustee of a California one, has consequences worth talking through. California has no state estate tax and no inheritance tax; only the federal estate tax applies, and only to estates above the federal exemption.
Statutory forms
California’s Probate Code sets out a statutory form power of attorney and a statutory advance health care directive. Those are the documents California hospitals and banks recognize on sight. A Nevada power of attorney is usually still valid in California, and the reverse, but it is the document most likely to be questioned in an emergency.
Wills and the transfer-on-death deed
California recognizes a handwritten will and offers a fill-in statutory will form; both are valid and both still go through probate. It also allows a revocable transfer-on-death deed for a home, with signing and witnessing requirements and a short statutory window in which the deed must be recorded to be effective. It suits a simple situation, and the formalities are easy to get wrong.
Property on the other side of the line
Real estate follows the law of the state it sits in. A Nevada resident who dies owning a California cabin in their own name usually leaves the family with a California probate for the cabin, on top of whatever happens in Nevada. The fix is ordinary and is done in advance: the cabin goes into the trust by a California deed, and the trust is drafted knowing the cabin exists. One trust is usually enough. The guide to the differences between the two states goes through this in more depth.
Jenny is admitted in both Nevada and California, so the California work is done from the Reno office.
If you have a home, a parent, or a cabin on the California side, bring the plan you have, and the deed.
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One flat fee, quoted at the consultation.
Estate plans are quoted as a single flat fee at the consultation.
Questions
Can a Reno attorney prepare a California estate plan?
Only one who is admitted in California. Jenny holds both the Nevada and California bar admissions, so the California work is done from the Reno office.
I live in Nevada and own a cabin in California. Which state’s plan do I need?
One plan, drafted with both states in mind. Your home state’s law governs most of what you own, but the cabin follows California law and would go through a California court if it were left outside a trust. A California deed into your trust is usually the fix.
Will putting my California home into a trust raise my property tax?
Moving a home into your own revocable living trust is not treated as a change of ownership, so it does not by itself trigger reassessment. What happens when the home later passes to your children is a separate question, and the rules for that were narrowed by a 2020 ballot measure that took effect in 2021.
Does California have an estate or inheritance tax?
No. Only the federal estate tax applies, and only to estates above the federal exemption. The California taxes that matter in planning are the state income tax and the property tax reassessment rules.
When you’re ready
Tell us which side of the line the house is on.
You’ll hear the whole process first, then the first step and the flat fee.