California Estate Planning Law Updates: New Statutes, Decisions, and Figures

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

This is a dated log of changes to California estate planning law: new statutes, published appellate decisions, changes to the figures that decide whether an estate needs probate, and corrections to this site. Every entry links to its primary source, meaning the chaptered bill, the court’s own opinion, or the agency document, and to the page on this site it affects. It is part of Law Watch and is checked every week.

New California statutes

Bills signed into law in the 2025-26 legislative session that change how families plan, how trusts are administered, or how estates are settled. Apart from narrow exceptions such as urgency and budget bills, the Legislature could not pass bills after August 31, 2026. The 2027-28 Legislature convenes on December 7, 2026, and bills that matter will be added here as they move.

Bill	What changes	Takes effect
SB 1288 (Stats. 2026, ch. 691) Signed September 27, 2026	Brokerages must notify transfer-on-death beneficiaries. Once a brokerage or other registering entity learns that all owners of a transfer-on-death security have died, it must start its beneficiary notification process and make a reasonable, good-faith effort to notify each named beneficiary. A beneficiary must receive the designated share within 60 days of providing all required documentation. SB 1288, bill text. More on this.	January 1, 2027 for charitable beneficiaries; January 1, 2028 for all others, where the last owner dies on or after that date
SB 974 (Stats. 2026, ch. 665) Signed September 27, 2026	Court-established special needs trusts qualify for the Prop 19 parent-child exclusion. A special needs trust established under Probate Code section 3604, which is a trust set up after a court makes specific findings, is now an eligible way to receive a parent-child or grandparent-grandchild transfer under Revenue and Taxation Code section 63.2. Other special needs trusts are not covered by this change. SB 974, bill text. More on this.	January 1, 2027
SB 1088 (Stats. 2026, ch. 677) Signed September 27, 2026	POLST changes: voluntary, e-signatures, out-of-state forms. A POLST is entirely voluntary, and a facility cannot condition care or admission on completing or refusing one. An electronic signature is sufficient. An out-of-state POLST that complies with its own state’s law or with California’s is valid in California. SB 1088, bill text. More on this.	January 1, 2027
AB 2598 (Stats. 2026, ch. 627) Signed September 27, 2026	Hospitals and nursing facilities must try to notify next of kin of a death. General acute care hospitals and skilled nursing facilities must make a reasonable attempt to notify any known next of kin when a patient dies. A facility that fails to do so faces a civil penalty of $200 a day, up to $50,000. AB 2598, bill text. More on this.	January 1, 2027
AB 2782 (Stats. 2026, ch. 640) Signed September 27, 2026	Homestead exemption amounts set for 2026 and indexed going forward. According to its Legislative Counsel’s Digest, AB 2782 sets the 2026 homestead exemption amounts at a floor of $373,175 and a ceiling of $746,350, with later years adjusted for inflation. The bill also makes technical changes to Probate Code sections 1063, 9763, and 16350. AB 2782, bill text. More on this.	January 1, 2027 (operative date not stated in the digest)
SB 1264 (Stats. 2026, ch. 427) Signed September 20, 2026	Probate child support notice limited to actual knowledge. In a probate, the personal representative or estate attorney must notify the Department of Child Support Services only when they have actual knowledge that the decedent, an heir, or a beneficiary owes court-ordered child support. There is no duty to investigate. This replaces the broader notice rule that took effect in 2026. SB 1264, bill text. More on this.	Estates where letters are first issued on or after January 1, 2027
AB 1660 (Stats. 2026, ch. 369) Signed September 20, 2026	Public administrators get easier access to a decedent’s property. A public administrator’s certification to take control of a decedent’s property no longer requires that the property be held, or the safe-deposit box rented, in the decedent’s sole name. This matters for estates with no family member able to act. AB 1660, bill text. More on this.	January 1, 2027
AB 871 (Stats. 2026, ch. 360) Signed September 20, 2026	Banks must tell an elder within 48 hours after reporting suspected abuse. A financial institution that reports suspected financial abuse of an elder or dependent adult must notify that person within 48 hours of filing the report. AB 871, bill text. More on this.	January 1, 2028
AB 1977 (Stats. 2026, ch. 280) Signed September 18, 2026	Notaries may sign electronically and must pass an exam to be reappointed. A notary may sign with an electronic signature that includes an image of the notary’s handwritten signature, and reappointment requires passing a written exam. Remote online notarization still waits on the Secretary of State’s system, due no later than January 1, 2030. AB 1977, bill text. More on this.	January 1, 2027
AB 2199 (Stats. 2026, ch. 47) Signed June 30, 2026	New statutory form power of attorney. California’s statutory form power of attorney is rewritten. The new form lets you name successor agents, nominate your agent as conservator of your estate if one is ever needed, and choose specific authority over digital assets, including electronic communications with or without their content. AB 2199, bill text. More on this.	January 1, 2027
AB 1597 (Stats. 2026, ch. 39) Signed June 30, 2026	Maximum notary fee rises to $20 per signature. The most a California notary may charge is now $20 for each signature taken on an acknowledgment, $20 for a jurat, and $20 to certify a copy of a power of attorney. AB 1597, bill text. More on this.	January 1, 2027
SB 164 (Stats. 2026, ch. 27) Signed June 29, 2026	Medi-Cal asset limit set to drop to $21,000 in 2027. The 2026 budget bill sets a lower Medi-Cal asset limit of $21,000 for one person and $31,000 for two, plus $1,550 for each additional household member. Under Welfare and Institutions Code section 14005.62, the lower limit applies no sooner than July 1, 2027, and only after the Department of Health Care Services director determines its systems are ready and tells the Department of Finance in writing. Until then the $130,000 limit stays. A later 2026 code-cleanup bill (SB 1433) amended the same section, but its own prevailing clause leaves SB 164’s version in control. SB 164, bill text. More on this.	June 29, 2026; lower limit no sooner than July 1, 2027
SB 293 (Stats. 2025, ch. 539) Signed October 10, 2025	More time to file Prop 19 claims after the 2025 fires. Where property was reassessed after damage or destruction in the 2025 Palisades, Eaton, Hurst, Lidia, Sunset, or Woodley fires, a Prop 19 exclusion claim is timely if filed within three years of the supplemental or escape assessment notice. The rule applies to claims filed before January 1, 2031. SB 293, bill text. More on this.	January 1, 2026
AB 1521 (Stats. 2025, ch. 200) Signed October 1, 2025	Medi-Cal notice of death can be given online. A personal representative or estate attorney may give the Department of Health Care Services the required notice of death through the department’s online notice of death form. AB 1521, bill text. More on this.	January 1, 2026
AB 565 (Stats. 2025, ch. 39) Signed July 14, 2025	Who can receive trust notices on someone else’s behalf. Probate Code section 15804 was rewritten. Notice given to a person authorized to represent and bind another person now satisfies notice requirements for trust actions, consent to that representation must be in writing, and a settlor cannot represent a beneficiary on terminating or modifying an irrevocable trust. AB 565, bill text. More on this.	January 1, 2026

Published appellate decisions

Published decisions from the California Supreme Court and Courts of Appeal in 2026 on trusts, wills, probate, and trust administration. Unpublished opinions are left out because they can’t be cited as precedent. A decision can still be taken up by the California Supreme Court for a short time after it is filed, so each entry says where that stands.

Case	What the court held	Review status
McKinley v. Harris (Oct. 13, 2026, G066032)	No fee award for a trustee defending a claim against her personally. A probate court’s equitable power protects the trust estate, not the trustee’s personal assets, so the court could not award a trustee her own attorney fees for defending a beneficiary’s claim against her individually. Opinion (courts.ca.gov). More on this.	Filed recently. The time to ask the California Supreme Court for review hasn’t run yet.
Phillip v. Baass (Oct. 9, 2026, B341853)	Medi-Cal estate recovery cannot include “excess capitation”. The Department of Health Care Services cannot recover from a decedent’s estate the excess capitation payments it made to Medi-Cal managed care plans, because they are not payments for health care services the person received under Welfare and Institutions Code section 14009.5. Opinion (courts.ca.gov). More on this.	Filed recently. The time to ask the California Supreme Court for review hasn’t run yet.
DeVone v. Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC (Oct. 8, 2026, B339219), published Oct. 29, 2026	A financial advisor’s duties can reach beyond the formal engagement. Whether a financial advisor’s fiduciary duties extend to matters like tax and estate planning advice depends on the facts of the whole relationship, not only the formal engagement. The court affirmed the dismissal of the excessive-trading claim, reversed the rest of the judgment for the advisor, and sent the remaining claims over an elderly client’s trust accounts back for trial. Opinion (courts.ca.gov). More on this.	Filed recently. The time to ask the California Supreme Court for review hasn’t run yet.
Nelson v. Nelson (Sept. 30, 2026, A159271)	Filing a contest triggers a no contest clause even if it is withdrawn. Under the no contest clause statutes, a contest occurs when a beneficiary files a pleading within the scope of the clause, however far the beneficiary pursues it. The old “paper contest” exception does not apply to clauses governed by Probate Code section 21310 and following. Opinion (courts.ca.gov). More on this.	Filed recently. The time to ask the California Supreme Court for review hasn’t run yet.
Sandford v. Sandford (Sept. 2, 2026, G064699), modified Oct. 1, 2026	A trust’s equalization clause covers loans and gifts, nothing more. A clause equalizing children’s shares for loans and gifts does not reach rental or sale proceeds. A settlor may still offset a time-barred loan against a child’s share if the trust clearly says so. Opinion (courts.ca.gov). More on this.	No later citing decisions or subsequent history appear in DingDuff or Midpage as of November 4, 2026.
Jackson v. Meyer (July 14, 2026, B341863)	Revoking a joint trust during a divorce held valid without a court filing. A spouse revoked her interest in a joint community property trust while the divorce was pending, by the method the trust required, and served her husband. That substantially complied with Family Code section 2040(b)(2), even though the revocation was not filed with the court, and the revocation stood. Opinion (courts.ca.gov). More on this.	No later citing decisions or subsequent history appear in DingDuff or Midpage as of November 4, 2026.
In re Tung Trust (June 9, 2026, B343197)	A “30-day survivorship” clause did not stop the antilapse statute. A trust clause saying anyone who fails to survive the settlor by 30 days is treated as having predeceased the settlor is not a survival requirement under Probate Code section 21110(b). The antilapse statute applied, and the share of a child who died before the settlor passed to that child’s children. Opinion (courts.ca.gov). More on this.	No later citing decisions or subsequent history appear in DingDuff or Midpage as of November 4, 2026.
Moramarco v. Nowakoski (Mar. 5, 2026, E084620), partially published	A trustee’s inability to pay doesn’t reduce the double-damages penalty. Once property is recovered under Probate Code section 850 and the taking was in bad faith, the section 859 penalty of twice the value is mandatory. The court may not reduce it for mitigating factors, including the trustee’s ability to pay. Opinion (courts.ca.gov). More on this.	No later citing decisions or subsequent history appear in DingDuff or Midpage as of November 4, 2026.
Haun v. Pagano (Feb. 18, 2026, D084385)	Elder abuse fee award can include overlapping defense work. A party who wins a financial elder abuse claim under Welfare and Institutions Code section 15657.5(a) can recover fees for work defending the other side’s competing elder abuse petition, to the extent that work overlapped entirely with the winning claim. Opinion (courts.ca.gov). More on this.	No later citing decisions or subsequent history appear in DingDuff or Midpage as of November 4, 2026.
Halperin v. Halperin (Jan. 29, 2026, A172110)	No tort suit for interference with an inheritance when probate was available. A claim for intentional interference with an expected inheritance is not available when probate offered an adequate remedy, even though probate cannot award tort damages against individuals. Opinion (courts.ca.gov). More on this.	No later citing decisions or subsequent history appear in DingDuff or Midpage as of November 4, 2026.

Figures and corrections

November 4, 2026: Correction: the $750,000 primary-residence limit adjusts in 2028

Our numbers page said the $750,000 limit for the primary-residence petition would not change on April 1, 2028. It will. Probate Code §13152(f)(3) fixes the limit at $750,000 for deaths from April 1, 2025, through March 31, 2028, and §13152(f)(4) switches it to the amount the Judicial Council publishes under §890 for deaths after that. Source: Probate Code §13152. See the page

November 4, 2026: County probate court pages updated for 2026 rules

Our Ventura, Los Angeles, and Santa Barbara probate pages now reflect each court’s current rules: mandatory e-filing for parties with a lawyer in all three courts, Ventura’s remote appearance rule effective July 1, 2026, Los Angeles’s probate notes deadlines, and the Probate Code section 8121 publication rule. Source: Ventura Local Rule 10.00. See the page

November 1, 2026: Section 7520 rate rises to 6.2 percent for November 2026

The IRS set the November 2026 section 7520 rate at 6.2 percent, up from 5.6 percent in October and the highest monthly rate since at least January 2025. A higher rate makes a GRAT or CLAT harder to win with and raises the charity’s share in a charitable remainder annuity trust. Source: Rev. Rul. 2026-21. See the page

How this log works

Each week the sources behind every Law Watch page are checked for changes. Mechanical updates, such as a new monthly IRS rate, are added when the source confirms them. Anything that takes judgment, such as a new statute or decision, I review before it is added. Corrections to this site are logged here too, with what was wrong and what the source says. To report an error, email eric@ridleylawoffices.com.

This page is for general information only, not legal advice. Consult an attorney about your specific situation.