Estate Tax Planning Attorney in Calabasas

Estate Tax Planning Attorney in Calabasas

Most people who ask about estate tax do not have an estate tax problem. California repealed its own estate tax and the federal exemption is $15 million per person in 2026, so for the large majority of Calabasas families the planning is about probate, control and privacy rather than tax.

The households that are genuinely exposed here tend to look the same: several properties, one or more operating businesses, and everything held through entities that have appreciated substantially since they were set up.

Entities are where the valuation argument happens

When an estate holds a membership interest rather than a building, the taxable value is the value of the interest, and that is not simply a share of the underlying assets. A minority interest carries no control, and an interest nobody can readily sell carries no ready market. Both are grounds for a discount, and together they can reduce the reported value substantially.

These discounts are legitimate and well established. They are also heavily scrutinized, and they depend on the operating agreement actually restricting control and transfer in the way the appraisal assumes. An agreement drafted loosely, or ignored in practice, undercuts the position.

So the estate tax work in Calabasas is usually not a new structure. It is making sure the structures that already exist are drafted and operated in a way that supports the valuation, and getting a defensible appraisal from someone who does this work rather than a general practitioner.

Portability, and why families lose it

When the first spouse dies, unused federal exemption can transfer to the survivor. It is not automatic. A federal estate tax return has to be filed at the first death to elect it, even where nothing is owed and the estate is far below the threshold at the time.

Families skip that filing because nothing appears due. The cost lands at the second death, when the survivor’s estate has grown past a single exemption and the first spouse’s unused amount is gone. On Calabasas property and business interests, that growth is not theoretical.

Moving appreciation out before it happens

The most effective planning moves future growth outside the estate rather than trying to reduce what is already there. Gifts of minority interests, grantor trusts that freeze value, and sales to those trusts all do versions of this, and they work best when applied to an asset expected to appreciate.

None of it is worth doing for an estate comfortably under the exemption, and I will say so. The most common honest answer to this question in Calabasas is that you have a probate and control problem rather than a tax one, and that the money is better spent on the structure than on the tax planning.

Questions Calabasas clients ask

Does California tax estates? No. There is no California estate tax and no inheritance tax. The only exposure is federal, and the exemption is $15 million per person in 2026.

Our house and the rentals total about $6 million. Is that a problem? Not a federal estate tax problem on those numbers. It is very likely a probate, control and liability problem, which is a different and usually more productive conversation.

How do valuation discounts work? The taxable asset is the interest in the entity, not a slice of the property. A minority interest lacks control and is hard to sell, and both support a discount. They depend on the operating agreement genuinely restricting control and transfer, and on a defensible appraisal.

What is portability and how is it lost? It lets a surviving spouse use the deceased spouse’s unused federal exemption, and it must be elected on a federal estate tax return filed at the first death. Families skip that filing because nothing is owed, and the exemption is then gone.

Will the exemption change? It has moved repeatedly and is set by legislation. A plan that only works at one exemption level is fragile, so I build for the level in force and keep the structure adjustable.

Talk to Eric or call 805-244-5291. I serve Calabasas and the surrounding Conejo Valley communities.

For the statewide version, see estate tax planning in California. If the estate is concentrated in property and entities rather than liquid assets, see high-net-worth planning in Calabasas.