Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California

Are you the trustee and the beneficiary? If, as the beneficiary, you are to received the real property, the county will increase (or decrease) the tax basis.

I am sorry to tell you this, but the taxes do increase. Here in California, if you have ever heard of Hearst Castle or the William Randolph Hearst trust, this is an excellent example. Eventually, the State and count started charging so much in tax that the children had to sell the property (they could not afford the taxes). I am going through a similar situation myself and it stinks. Sorry to drop that on you. Taxes are always going up

Whether the taxes will change depends on who the beneficiary is, not who the trustee is, and whether the trust is revocable or irrevocable. If you are going to be the trustee, there is no way we can tell you what will happen to the taxes without knowing the structure and beneficiaries of the trust.

And Mr. Wheeler really needs to get off his soapbox about the Hearst Castle. That was over 50 years ago, under a TOTALLY different property tax structure from what we have now.