06/04/2026
4 Things I Would Never Do as a California Estate Planning Attorney 🚫
1. Name a minor child as a direct beneficiary. In California, minors can’t legally receive an inheritance directly. The court steps in, a conservatorship is established, and your child gets a lump sum at 18 — ready or not. Name a trust instead.
2. Own real property without a trust. An $800K home — even with a $600K mortgage — is still an $800K probate asset. California probate is public, slow, and expensive. A revocable living trust avoids all of it.
3. Treat my estate plan as “set it and forget it.” Your plan reflects your life at one moment in time. Marriage, divorce, new children, new assets — any of these can make an outdated plan work against your family. Review it every 3–5 years, minimum.
4. Let cost be the reason my family ends up in probate. An estate with $900K in assets can generate $21,000+ in probate fees alone. A proper plan costs a fraction of that — and it’s the most cost-effective gift you can give your family.
If any of this resonates, let’s talk. 📞 (909) 942-6033
