Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

You should user your names. A trust cannot claim a homestead exemption, but your interest in the property as holder of the reversionary interest in your revocable trust is sufficient to allow you to file the declared homestead. There is a provision in the declared homestead law at Code of Civil Procedure section 704.910(c) that says the interest of the beneficiary of a trust is insufficient to qualify one for a declared homestead. However, with a revocable trust such as usually used by homeowners for estate-planning purposes, your interest is greater than that of a mere trust beneficiary. See the leading case on this issue, Fisch, Spiegler, Ginsburg & Ladner v. Appel (1992), reported at 10 Cal.App.4th 1810. As trustors of your trust, you and your spouse are more than mere trust beneficiaries; you hold a reversionary interest should you revoke the trust. Under the Fisch case and other later cases following Fisch, you may declare a homestead in your own names (assuming you qualify in other respects, of course).