Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California

Re: trusts

If a living trust is set up properly, there should be no probate necessary at death.

However, it is not unusual for some assets to be left outside of the trust - a probate (or one of the simplified probate procedures, if the assets are small enough) would then be necessary to take care of those remaining assets.

Some attorneys believe it is better - even where there is a living trust - to have a small probate, because this acts to cut off creditor claims against the decedent's assets if the creditors don't file a claim in the probate.

Re: trusts

While probate is not necessary for the assets in the trust, a pour over will is often advisable to place in the trust assets that were inadvertently left out. That will must often be probated, especially if real estate is involved.

Re: trusts

Generally, a trust does avoid probate, this is why our firm recommends trusts over wills, although a proper estate plan should contain both.

We offer a lot of information about trusts, wills and probate on our firm's site, NO-PROBATE.com, please feel free to go there and let me know if you have any other questions.

Scott