Survivor’s Trust: Definition and How It Works in California

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

A survivor’s trust holds the surviving spouse’s own share of a married couple’s joint trust after the first spouse dies, usually their half of the community property plus their separate property. The survivor can generally still amend or revoke this share, the same way they could before the first spouse died.

How it works in California

“Survivor’s trust” is planning terminology, not a term the Probate Code defines. It describes what happens when a couple’s revocable trust splits at the first death into separate shares, commonly called an AB plan (survivor’s trust and bypass trust) or an ABC plan (survivor’s trust, bypass trust, and a marital or QTIP trust). The survivor’s trust is the “A” share: it holds the surviving spouse’s own property and typically stays fully revocable and amendable, because it was always the survivor’s property to begin with.

The other share or shares created at the first death, by contrast, usually become irrevocable once the first spouse dies. That split is what lets a couple’s estate plan address estate tax exposure and, in a second marriage, control where each spouse’s property ultimately goes, while leaving the survivor free to manage and change their own portion.

Why it matters

Confusing the survivor’s trust with the other, irrevocable shares can lead to real mistakes in administration. For example, a surviving spouse who assumes the entire former joint trust is still theirs to amend might try to change who receives property that actually sits in the irrevocable bypass share, which the trust no longer allows once the first spouse has died.

Common mistakes

Treating the whole former joint trust as freely amendable after the first death, when usually only the survivor’s share is. Failing to retitle or allocate assets between the survivor’s trust and the other shares soon after the first spouse dies. Assuming every couple’s trust splits the same way; the actual structure depends on what the trust instrument says.

Related terms

• Bypass Trust (AB Trust): the bypass trust is the companion, usually irrevocable, share created at the first spouse’s death alongside the survivor’s trust.
• QTIP Trust: an ABC plan adds a QTIP trust as a third share alongside the survivor’s trust and the bypass trust.
• Marital Deduction: how the shares created at the first death are structured often depends on how the plan uses the marital deduction.
• Community Property: a survivor’s trust usually holds the surviving spouse’s half of the couple’s community property.

Part of the California estate planning glossary.