Is this where you are?
You own a California home and have no plan
The house is in your name or your and your spouse's names. If your California assets exceed the small-estate limit at death, your family will generally need court probate. In Los Angeles, one house is usually enough to exceed it.
Your parents are getting older
They own a home and savings. You worry about who could legally handle their accounts if they become ill or lose capacity, and you want to spare the family a court process later.
You signed a trust but never funded it
The trust exists, but the home you bought later or the accounts you opened were never retitled. Assets left outside the trust may still go through probate.
A non-citizen spouse or assets in China
Your spouse holds a green card or a foreign passport, or family assets sit in China. Estate tax rules and drafting both work differently for your family.
A blended family or young children
You want children from a prior marriage protected, or you do not want a child to receive everything outright at 18 and prefer staged or purpose-based distributions.
Your life has changed since you signed
Marriage, divorce, a move, a new home, or a trustee who is no longer the right choice. The old terms may no longer say what you want.
What we handle
Documents are in English, each with a Chinese explanation. We walk through them with you before you sign.
Revocable living trust
Drafted around your family: trustee, successor trustee, beneficiaries, and how and when they receive assets. Married couples usually sign one joint trust.
Deeding your home into the trust
We prepare and record the deed transferring your home to the trust, with the Preliminary Change of Ownership Report filed alongside it.
Accounts and beneficiary designations
We help retitle bank and brokerage accounts. Retirement accounts and life insurance are usually handled by beneficiary designation instead, and we review each form with you.
Companion documents
Pour-over will, durable power of attorney, and advance health care directive, signed with the trust so decisions during incapacity are covered.
Non-citizen spouse and overseas assets
Where a spouse is not a U.S. citizen or assets are in China, we build in the appropriate provisions and flag what needs a tax advisor or local counsel.
Amendments and restatements
Changing a trustee, adjusting shares, or adding a new property to an existing trust, by amendment or full restatement.
Probate when there was no trust
If a family member has passed and assets were never placed in a trust, we can handle the probate, billed hourly.
California law essentials
Figures reflect rules in effect for 2025–2026. Whether they apply depends on your facts.
- Small-estate limit: $208,850：For deaths on or after April 1, 2025, if the decedent's California property is worth $208,850 or less, heirs can generally use a simplified procedure instead of full probate (Probate Code §13100). The figure is adjusted for inflation every 3 years, next on April 1, 2028. A primary residence worth up to $750,000 may pass by a simpler court petition (§13151), which still requires going to court.
- Statutory probate fees are based on gross value：The attorney fee and the executor's compensation each follow the same schedule: 4% of the first $100,000, 3% of the next $100,000, 2% of the next $800,000, 1% of the next $9,000,000 (Probate Code §§10810, 10800). The base is gross estate value, with no deduction for mortgages. On a $1,000,000 estate that is $23,000 to the attorney and another $23,000 to the executor, before any extraordinary fees.
- No reassessment for a transfer into your own revocable trust：Deeding your home into a revocable trust you created is not a change in ownership under Revenue and Taxation Code §62(d), so it does not trigger Prop 13 reassessment. For homes with fewer than 5 units, federal law also bars the lender from calling the loan because of the transfer.
- Prop 19 still applies：A trust avoids probate, not Prop 19. To keep a parent's tax base, the home generally must be the parent's principal residence and the child must make it his or her own principal residence within 1 year. For transfers from February 16, 2025 through February 15, 2027, the exclusion is capped at the factored base year value plus $1,044,586; value above that is reassessed. Rentals and investment properties passing to children are generally reassessed.
- Non-citizen spouses and nonresident owners：Spouses who are U.S. citizens generally get an unlimited marital deduction. If the surviving spouse is not a U.S. citizen, it is generally unavailable unless the assets pass through a qualified domestic trust (QDOT) (IRC §2056(d)). A decedent who was neither a U.S. citizen nor a U.S. resident must file a federal estate tax return if U.S. assets exceed $60,000. By comparison, the 2026 federal exemption for citizens and residents is $15,000,000 per person, and California has no estate tax.
- Community property：California is a community property state: property acquired during marriage is generally community property (Family Code §760). A joint trust usually schedules what is community and what is separate. At the first death, both halves of community property generally receive a stepped-up basis (IRC §1014(b)(6)), which can sharply reduce capital gains tax on a later sale.
- An unfunded trust does little：A trust controls only assets titled in its name or that name it as beneficiary. A house left outside the trust may go through probate even if the trust mentions it. A pour-over will directs stray assets to the trust, but those assets usually still pass through probate first.
How it works with us
Understand your family and assets
A call or WeChat conversation: who is in the family, what you own, where it is and whose name it is in, and whether a non-citizen spouse or overseas assets are involved. Then we settle which documents you need.
Flat fee, in writing
Once the scope is set, we quote a flat fee and write it into the engagement agreement before work begins. It does not go up because you have more questions.
Drafting, explained in Chinese
We draft the trust and companion documents with Chinese explanations and go through the key choices with you: who serves as trustee, what children receive and when, who makes medical decisions. We finalize after you confirm.
Signing and notarization
Trusts, wills, and powers of attorney each have their own execution rules. We arrange signing, witnesses, and notarization to fit each one.
Funding the trust before we close
We prepare and record the deed, and help you retitle bank and brokerage accounts and update retirement account beneficiaries. We close the matter only after the assets are in place.
Updates when life changes
When you buy or sell property, marry or divorce, move states, or family circumstances shift, we amend the trust on an hourly basis.
Fees
Flat fee for the trust package
Living trust, pour-over will, powers of attorney, and health care directive are billed at a flat fee, written into the engagement agreement before work begins, with no increase midway.
Hourly for amendments and probate
Amendments to existing trusts, negotiated prenuptial agreements, and probate are billed hourly, with the rate and an estimate given in writing at engagement.
- The documents covered by the flat fee are listed in the engagement agreement. Anything outside that scope is discussed with you and done only with your approval.
- Whether recording, notary, and other government or third-party charges are included is stated in the engagement agreement.
- Tax filings or assets located in China may require a separate accountant or local counsel.
Frequently asked questions
The following is general legal information and is not legal advice for any specific matter. For your situation, contact Lingtu Law APC at 415-547-9999 or on WeChat at lingtulaw.
