The Crisis of Probate in Los Angeles County
Serving as an executor in Los Angeles is a monumental task. If you pass away in LA without an estate plan, your family must deal with the Los Angeles County Superior Court Probate Division. The primary hub for these cases is the Stanley Mosk Courthouse. Due to the sheer volume of cases, the probate process currently takes 12 to 24 months.
During this window, your beneficiaries cannot access accounts, and your home cannot be sold to cover expenses without court permission. Our Living Trust packages provide a "Fast-Track" for your heirs, allowing them to settle the estate in weeks rather than years.
Proposition 19: The Silent Threat to LA Real Estate
From Hollywood Hills to South LA, many Los Angeles homeowners have millions in equity. However, California Proposition 19 (passed in 2021) changed the rules for family transfers. If your children do not move into your home as their primary residence within one year, the property tax will be reassessed to market value—often jumping from $3,000/year to $18,000/year.
We implement specific Prop 19 Defense Planning in our trusts. We use specific legal language to provide the "successor trustee" with the flexibility needed to preserve your low tax base whenever legally possible, saving your children thousands in annual taxes.
Strategies for Hollywood Hills & Bel Air
Our clients in the Hollywood Hills and Bel Air communities often possess complex assets including entertainment royalties, production company interests, and multi-property portfolios. These are "non-standard" assets that traditional wills fail to handle properly. We specialize in Asset Protection Trusts and Irrevocable Life Insurance Trusts (ILITs) for high-net-worth individuals who require their financial affairs to remain private and secure from potential creditors or lawsuits.
The Heggstad Petition: Saving "Forgotten" Assets
A common mistake in LA is creating a trust but failing to "fund" it (forgetting to move the house into the trust's name). Under California Probate Code § 850, we can file a Heggstad Petition. This allows the court to transfer the asset into the trust retroactively, avoiding a full 18-month probate. We have successfully rescued millions in Los Angeles real estate using this procedure.
Complete Los Angeles Estate Planning Services
Our comprehensive estate planning packages include:
- Revocable Living Trust - Avoid probate entirely
- Pour-Over Will - Catch-all for assets outside the trust
- Durable Power of Attorney - Financial management if incapacitated
- Advance Healthcare Directive - Medical decisions
- HIPAA Authorization - Access to medical records
- Trust Transfer Deed - Transfer your LA home into the trust
- Proposition 19 Tax Strategy - Preserve property tax base for heirs
- Asset Protection Planning - For high-net-worth individuals
