Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California

Yes. The law treats the trust property as if it is your property, so the settlor is not protected from liability just because the property is placed in a trust. The living trust itself is not a vehicle for asset protection from creditors and judgments.

When you establish a Trust, your attorney will tell you to contact your insurance company to add yourself as Trustee to the policy as a matter of course. It is not accurate to say a trust is not a vehicle for asset protection from creditors though. It can be. However, the injured person will be suing you in any event. Your carrier will defend and the plaintiff may need to amend to name the Trust and you as Trustee but the law suit goes forward.

Yes you can. You can take other steps to protect yourself, the cheapest of which is to have sufficient insurance - at least a couple of million dollars of primary and excess liability coverage. There are other things that one can do but you have to be careful about fradulent transfer issue as well as issues relating to any mortgages you may have on the property.

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