Settlor: Definition and How It Works in California

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

A settlor is the person who creates a trust and transfers property into it. Trust documents also use trustor or grantor for the same role, and in a typical living trust the settlor also serves as the first trustee and the lifetime beneficiary.

How it works in California

Ridley Law’s discussion of what happens when a beneficiary dies before the settlor shows how the settlor’s own choices control the outcome. California’s Probate Code does not define “settlor” in one place, but it does spell out the ways someone becomes one: by declaring themselves trustee of property, by transferring property to a trustee during life, by transferring property by will, by exercising a power of appointment in favor of a trustee, or by making an enforceable promise to create a trust (Prob. Code, § 15200).

Most people who set up a revocable trust for themselves remain free to change or cancel it for as long as they are alive and capable, since the settlor is the one holding that power.

Why it matters

Who counts as the settlor matters for questions of legal authority. Only the settlor, or an agent acting under a power of attorney that specifically grants that authority, can amend or revoke the trust. For example, adult children sometimes assume they can direct changes to an aging parent’s trust without a valid financial power of attorney that grants that specific power, and they cannot.

Common mistakes

People sometimes treat “grantor,” “trustor,” and “settlor” as if they were legally different roles; they are different names for the same role. Assuming the settlor and the trustee are always different people is another mistake; in most living trusts they start out as the same person, with a successor trustee named to take over later.

Related terms

• Trustee: the settlor is often the first trustee too.
• Revocable Trust: most settlors create a trust they can still change themselves.
• Living Trust: the settlor is the person who signs a living trust into existence.
• Beneficiary: the settlor is usually the lifetime beneficiary of their own trust.
• Grantor Trust: a trust whose income is taxed to the person who created it.

Part of the California estate planning glossary. For the full treatment, see What Happens If a Beneficiary Dies Before the Settlor?