The question usually arrives a few months after escrow closes. You own a home in Los Angeles now. Someone — a lender, a CPA, a friend at dinner — mentions that you should “put the house in a trust.” And you think: I have a will. Isn’t that enough?
For most Los Angeles homeowners, no. It isn’t. And the reason has nothing to do with how much money you have. It has to do with how California treats real estate at death — and what your family will face if your home passes through a will instead of a trust.
A Will Does Not Avoid Probate
This is the single most common misconception in estate planning. A will does not keep your family out of court. A will is the document the probate court reads. It tells the judge who should receive your assets — after the probate process runs its course.
Probate is triggered by how your assets are titled at death, not by whether you wrote a will. If you die owning assets in your individual name worth more than California’s small-estate threshold, those assets go through probate — will or no will.
The $184,500 Threshold — and Why Your Home Blows Past It
Under California Probate Code § 13100, estates with gross assets over $184,500 (as of 2024) require probate. Read that number again, then think about Los Angeles real estate. A modest condominium in the Valley clears the threshold several times over. A single-family home almost anywhere in LA County clears it by a factor of four or five.
If you own a home in Los Angeles, your estate exceeds the probate threshold. That is true for essentially every homeowner reading this — regardless of your mortgage, and regardless of whether you think of yourself as someone who “has an estate.”
What Probate Actually Costs
California sets probate compensation by statute. Under Probate Code §§ 10800 and 10810, both the probate attorney and the executor are each entitled to fees calculated as a percentage of the gross estate: 4% of the first $100,000, 3% of the next $100,000, and 2% of the next $800,000. Here is what that produces at estate values common in Los Angeles:
| Gross Estate Value | Attorney Fees | Executor Fees | Combined Minimum |
|---|---|---|---|
| $500,000 | $13,000 | $13,000 | $26,000 |
| $750,000 | $18,000 | $18,000 | $36,000 |
| $1,000,000 | $23,000 | $23,000 | $46,000 |
| $1,500,000 | $28,000 | $28,000 | $56,000 |
| $2,000,000 | $33,000 | $33,000 | $66,000 |
These are the fees for ordinary services. Court filing fees, probate referee appraisal fees, and publication costs come on top — and “extraordinary services” like selling the home during probate can add more, with court approval.
Gross Value, Not Equity — The Part That Surprises Everyone
Here is the detail most homeowners miss: those fees are calculated on the gross value of your estate, not your equity. Your mortgage does not reduce the fee base.
Say your home is worth $900,000 and you owe $500,000 on it. Your equity is $400,000 — but for probate fee purposes, the calculation runs on the full $900,000. The attorney’s statutory fee on a $900,000 gross estate is approximately $21,000, and the executor is entitled to the same. Your family pays roughly $42,000 in fees on an asset you only owned $400,000 of.
The Time Cost: 12 to 24 Months of Frozen Assets
The money is only half the problem. Probate in Los Angeles County Superior Court typically takes 12 to 24 months — nine months is the practical floor, and contested matters run years. During that entire period, assets titled in your name are frozen. Your family cannot sell the home, access your accounts, or receive distributions without court authorization.
The mortgage still comes due every month. Property taxes don’t pause. Insurance has to stay current. Your family carries those costs while waiting for a court calendar to produce a distribution order.
What a Living Trust Changes
A revocable living trust takes your home — and your accounts, and anything else you transfer into it — outside the probate system entirely. You create the trust during your lifetime and serve as your own trustee. Nothing about your daily life changes: you can sell, refinance, or spend exactly as before, and you can amend or revoke the trust whenever you choose.
At your death, the person you named as successor trustee steps in and distributes the trust assets under the trust’s terms. No petition. No court appointment. No 12-month wait. In most administrations, your successor trustee can begin acting within days and make distributions within weeks.
One condition: the trust must be funded. Your home must actually be deeded into the trust, and your accounts retitled or coordinated by beneficiary designation. A trust that owns nothing avoids nothing — which is why funding is part of every estate plan I prepare, not a task left on your to-do list.
A Flat Fee Now, or a Sliding Scale Later
Look back at that fee table and notice the pattern: probate fees grow with your estate. Every year your Los Angeles home appreciates, your family’s probate exposure grows with it. Probate fees increase with every dollar of estate appreciation. The flat fee for an estate plan does not.
Estate planning at Trust Advisor is a flat fee for estates below the federal estate tax exemption — the same whether your estate is $600,000 or $6 million. You know the cost before you start, and it never changes because your home gained value. It is a one-time fixed cost that eliminates a compounding future liability.
Own a home in Los Angeles and still relying on a will?
One conversation will tell you exactly what you need — and what you don’t.
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