California Estate Planning Glossary
The terms you'll meet while planning your estate — defined in plain English, the way we explain them in the office.
Published by Kurt D. Elkins, Attorney at Law · Last updated August 2026
Advance Health Care Directive
An Advance Health Care Directive is the California document that names someone to make medical decisions for you if you cannot, and records your wishes about treatment and end-of-life care. It is governed by Probate Code § 4701 and must be either notarized or signed by two qualified witnesses. Along with a durable power of attorney, it is one of the two incapacity documents in nearly every complete estate plan.
Heggstad Petition
A Heggstad petition is a court request (Probate Code § 850) asking a judge to confirm that an asset belongs to a trust even though the title was never formally transferred. It exists as a rescue tool for unfunded or partially funded trusts. Winning one is faster than a full probate, but it still means a court filing, a hearing, and delay — all avoidable by funding the trust properly during your lifetime.
Intestacy
Intestacy is what happens when a Californian dies without a valid will or trust: state law decides who inherits, in a fixed order (spouse, children, parents, siblings, and so on). The court also chooses who administers the estate and who raises minor children. Intestate estates over the small-estate threshold go through full probate.
Irrevocable Trust
An irrevocable trust is a trust that generally cannot be changed or revoked once created. In exchange for giving up control, the person creating it can remove assets from their taxable estate, protect assets for beneficiaries, or structure property transfers — including some Prop 19 reassessment strategies. Most family estate plans are built on a revocable living trust instead; irrevocable trusts are the advanced tool for specific problems.
Living Trust (Revocable)
A revocable living trust is a legal container you create during your lifetime to hold your assets. You stay in full control — you can amend or revoke it at any time — and when you die, your successor trustee distributes the assets privately, without probate court. Because you can change it freely, it is also called a revocable trust; when it holds a family’s assets people often say "family trust" — in California these are the same instrument.
Pour-Over Will
A pour-over will is a will that "pours" any asset left outside your living trust into the trust when you die, acting as a safety net for things you forgot to transfer. It is also where you nominate guardians for minor children. Also spelled "pourover" and sometimes called a spillover will.
Power of Attorney (Durable)
A durable power of attorney names an agent to handle your finances — bank accounts, bills, real estate, taxes — if you become incapacitated. "Durable" means it keeps working after incapacity, which is the whole point. California banks routinely reject vague or improperly executed forms, which is why this document is drafted, not downloaded.
Probate
Probate is the court-supervised process of validating a will, paying debts, and distributing a deceased person’s assets. In California it is public, typically takes 12–18 months, and carries statutory fees calculated on the gross value of the estate. Assets held in a living trust, and accounts with valid beneficiary designations, pass outside probate.
Prop 19 Parent-Child Exclusion
The Prop 19 parent-child exclusion is the narrow surviving path for passing a California home to children without full property tax reassessment: the child must make it their primary residence within one year, and the excluded value is capped (about $1.04 million above the parent’s taxable value for 2025–2027 transfers). Rentals, second homes, and commercial property no longer qualify at all.
Small Estate Affidavit
A small estate affidavit is a sworn form that lets heirs collect a deceased Californian’s assets without probate when the total estate (excluding certain assets) is under the statutory threshold — currently $208,850 for deaths on or after April 1, 2025. It cannot transfer most real estate, which is why homeowners rely on living trusts instead.
Step-Up in Basis
Step-up in basis is the income tax rule that resets an inherited asset’s cost basis to its market value at the owner’s death. Heirs who sell soon after inheriting owe little or no capital gains tax on decades of appreciation. Lifetime gifts and some joint tenancy arrangements can forfeit part of this benefit — one reason deeds and estate plans need to be designed together.
Successor Trustee
A successor trustee is the person (or institution) named in a living trust to take over when the creator dies or becomes incapacitated. They act as a fiduciary: sending statutory notices, managing and distributing assets, keeping accounts, and carrying personal liability for mistakes. Choosing this person — and making their job easier through good drafting — is one of the most consequential decisions in a trust.
Trust Amendment & Restatement
A trust amendment is a formal document changing specific provisions of a revocable living trust — a new successor trustee, an updated distribution, a beneficiary change. A restatement rewrites the entire trust while keeping the original trust’s name and date, so nothing has to be re-titled. Marriages, divorces, births, deaths, and new property are the usual triggers for one or the other.
Trust Funding
Trust funding is the process of actually transferring your assets into your living trust — recording a deed for your home, retitling accounts, updating beneficiary designations. An unfunded trust is the most common estate planning failure in California: the document exists, but the assets it was supposed to control still pass through probate (or need a Heggstad petition to rescue).
Trust Transfer Deed
A trust transfer deed is the recorded document that moves California real estate from your individual name into your living trust. Done correctly — with the county recording and the preliminary change of ownership report — it does not trigger Prop 19 property tax reassessment or a lender’s due-on-sale clause. It is the single most commonly missed step in do-it-yourself estate plans.
A Definition Only Goes So Far
Call for a free 15-minute consultation and get an answer specific to your family — and an honest one about whether you need a lawyer at all.
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