High-Net-Worth Estate Planning in Camarillo

High-Net-Worth Estate Planning in Camarillo

The Camarillo estates that need this work are rarely the ones with the most obvious wealth. They are the family holding sixty acres of lemon and avocado ground in the Pleasant Valley area that has been in the family for three generations, the couple who assembled a dozen rental units across Ventura County starting in the 1990s, and the owner of a light manufacturing company near the Camarillo Airport business parks whose balance sheet badly understates what the business is worth.

I am an estate planning attorney serving Camarillo and all of Ventura County. For the tax fundamentals, see estate tax planning in Camarillo.

Establishing whether there is actually a problem

The threshold question is what the estate is worth, and the answer is frequently wrong on the first pass. People count the house and the brokerage account and forget the death benefit on a policy they own, the value of a business interest they have never had appraised, and the appreciation on property bought decades ago at a fraction of current value.

For agricultural land, the gap between assessed value and market value can be enormous, particularly for parcels held since the 1970s under a low Proposition 13 base. An owner who thinks of the ranch as worth what it says on the tax bill can be off by an order of magnitude. Estate tax is calculated on fair market value at death, not on assessed value.

Liquidity is the failure mode

Federal estate tax is due nine months after death, in cash. An estate consisting of farmland, rental property, and an operating business has almost none. That is how families end up selling ground their grandparents bought, at whatever price a forced sale produces on a nine-month deadline.

The responses are planned in advance: life insurance held outside the estate to provide the cash, the deferral and installment provisions available for closely held business interests, and structuring the estate so the tax lands where there are liquid assets to pay it. None of these can be arranged after the death.

Moving life insurance out of the estate

A policy you own is included in your taxable estate at its full death benefit. A $3 million policy owned personally adds $3 million to the taxable estate, which is a perverse result when the policy exists to pay the tax.

An irrevocable life insurance trust owns the policy instead, so the proceeds stay outside the estate and remain available to provide liquidity. Existing policies can be transferred to such a trust, but a three-year lookback applies, which is a reason to do it sooner rather than at the point where it is obviously needed.

Using exemption while keeping access

A spousal lifetime access trust lets one spouse move assets out of the taxable estate while the other spouse retains indirect access to them. It uses exemption now, which matters if you expect the assets to appreciate substantially, and the appreciation happens outside the estate.

A qualified personal residence trust transfers a residence at a discounted gift value while the owner continues living there for a term of years. Both structures are irrevocable and both involve giving up control that cannot be recovered, so they are appropriate when the numbers clearly justify them and not otherwise.

Valuation discounts on closely held interests, for lack of control and lack of marketability, reduce the transfer value of a business or a family entity. They require a defensible appraisal and a structure that genuinely supports the discount rather than one assembled purely for the tax result.

Land and business succession

For a Camarillo family holding agricultural ground, the succession question is usually harder than the tax question. Some children want to farm it, some want to be bought out, and dividing the ground itself often destroys its viability as an operation. An entity structure with buy-sell provisions, funded so a buyout is actually possible, resolves in advance what otherwise becomes litigation between siblings.

For an operating business, the same applies with the added problem that the value walks out the door if the owner is the business. A succession plan that identifies who runs it, how the non-participating children are made whole, and where the money for that comes from is worth more than any tax structure. See business succession in Camarillo.

Questions Camarillo clients ask

At what point does a Camarillo estate actually owe federal estate tax? Above $15 million per person as of 2026, twice that for a married couple with proper planning. California imposes no separate estate tax. Below the federal threshold, the planning priorities are basis, Proposition 19, and succession rather than transfer tax.

Is my ranch valued at the assessed value for estate tax? No. Estate tax uses fair market value at death. For agricultural land held since the 1970s under a low Proposition 13 base, market value can be many times the assessed value, which is why owners routinely underestimate their exposure.

How do we pay an estate tax bill on land and a business with no cash? That is the central problem. The usual answers are life insurance held outside the estate through an irrevocable trust, the deferral and installment provisions available for closely held business interests, and structuring so liquid assets are positioned to bear the tax. All of it has to be arranged before death.

Should I have used my exemption before it was cut in 2026? The scheduled reduction did not happen. The 2025 federal tax act set the exemption at $15 million per person and made it permanent. Planning built on the assumption of a 2026 cut is worth revisiting, particularly irrevocable structures created quickly to use exemption that turned out to remain available.

Do valuation discounts still work? Yes, for genuine closely held interests where lack of control and lack of marketability are real. They require a defensible appraisal and a structure with actual business substance. Discounts claimed on an entity assembled solely for the tax benefit invite challenge.

Can I put my house in an irrevocable trust and keep living in it? Through a qualified personal residence trust, for a defined term of years, yes. It is irrevocable, and if you die during the term the property comes back into your estate and the planning accomplishes nothing. The term has to be set realistically.

Book a consultation at https://ridley.click/eric-60 or call 805-244-5291. I serve Camarillo and all of Ventura County. For asset protection questions specifically, see asset protection in Camarillo.