Revocable Trust: Definition and How It Works in California

By Eric Ridley, attorney, Ridley Law. Updated September 2026.

A revocable trust is a trust the settlor can change or cancel at any time during life. California presumes a trust is revocable unless the trust document expressly makes it irrevocable, and most living trusts people set up for themselves are revocable trusts.

How it works in California

Ridley Law’s overview of living trusts covers how one gets created and funded. Unless the trust instrument expressly says otherwise, California law treats the trust as revocable by the settlor (Prob. Code, § 15400). The settlor can amend or revoke it by whatever method the trust document allows, usually a signed written amendment.

While the trust stays revocable, its assets remain reachable by the settlor’s creditors and count as part of the settlor’s estate for tax purposes. On the settlor’s incapacity or death, the trust typically becomes irrevocable and a successor trustee steps in. For what changes at that point, see irrevocable trust after death vs. during life.

Why it matters

A revocable trust gives the settlor full flexibility to change beneficiaries, trustees, or terms as life changes, without probate at death for whatever the trust actually holds. For example, after a divorce, a settlor can simply amend the trust to remove a former spouse rather than start over with a new plan.

Common mistakes

People sometimes confuse a revocable trust with an irrevocable one and expect the same asset protection or tax benefits; a trust the settlor can still change offers neither. Assuming revocability means nothing has to be signed or witnessed to change the trust is another mistake; amendment formalities still matter and an unsigned change generally does not count.

Related terms

• Living Trust: most living trusts start out as revocable trusts.
• Irrevocable Trust: what a revocable trust becomes, or what a settlor creates separately, when full protection is the goal.
• Settlor: the person who holds the power to revoke.
• Trust Funding: a revocable trust that is never funded does not avoid probate.
• Grantor Trust: a trust whose income is taxed to the person who created it.
• Trust Amendment: a signed document that changes specific terms of a trust.
• Trust Restatement: a document that replaces a trust’s entire text while keeping its name and date.

Part of the California estate planning glossary. For the full treatment, see What Is a Living Trust? Complete Guide for California.