Short answer: A trust attorney drafts and funds your revocable living trust, advises on how it is paid for and administered, and steps in when a trustee or beneficiary needs court help. At Ridley Law, a complete trust-based estate plan, meaning a revocable living trust, pour-over will, incapacity documents, and the deed moving your California home into the trust, is a flat $4,100 for a married couple or $3,700 for a single person.
What does a trust attorney actually do?
The core job is drafting the trust document itself: who the trustee is, who the successor trustees are if the first one can’t serve, who the beneficiaries are, and what happens to the property. That document also usually comes with a pour-over will and incapacity documents, since a trust alone does not address everything.
Drafting is only half the work. The trust also has to be funded, meaning your accounts, real estate, and other assets actually get retitled into the name of the trust. A living trust that is signed but never funded does not avoid probate for the assets left out of it. That funding step, including preparing and recording the deed for a California home, is where a lot of DIY trusts fail.
Do I need a trust attorney if I already have a will?
A will by itself does not avoid probate. It only takes effect once a court validates it through the probate process, which is public and court-supervised. A properly funded revocable living trust is different: it passes assets to your beneficiaries privately, without that court process, for anything actually titled in the trust’s name.
Whether that gap matters to you often comes down to size. California requires formal probate once an estate’s probate assets exceed $208,850 in gross value, for deaths on or after April 1, 2025 (Probate Code § 13100). Below that threshold, simplified small-estate procedures may apply. Above it, a will alone still means your family goes through full probate.
How is a trust attorney paid, and how is a trustee paid?
Attorney fees for setting up the plan and fees for administering a trust after someone dies are two different things. At Ridley Law, the flat fee for the full trust-based plan is $4,100 for a married couple or $3,700 for a single person. Trust administration disputes or other matters that fall outside a flat-fee package are billed hourly, at $500 an hour.
A trustee’s own compensation is a separate question, governed by the trust document rather than a court fee schedule. If the trust specifies how the trustee is paid, that provision controls (Probate Code § 15680). If the trust is silent, the trustee is entitled to reasonable compensation under the circumstances, with no fixed statutory percentage the way a probate executor’s fee is calculated (Probate Code § 15681).
What happens once the trust becomes irrevocable?
When the person who created the trust dies, or the trust otherwise becomes irrevocable, the successor trustee has to send formal written notice to every beneficiary and legal heir within 60 days. That notice starts a 120-day window during which the trust can be legally contested (Probate Code § 16061.7).
From there, the trustee has to administer the trust according to its terms and California law. There is no fixed statutory deadline for finishing distribution, only a duty to act within a reasonable time (Probate Code § 16000). Beneficiaries are entitled to accountings along the way (Probate Code §§ 16060 through 16063), and a trustee cannot use trust property for personal benefit (Probate Code § 16004).
When a trustee stalls, refuses to account, or mismanages assets, a beneficiary or other interested party can petition the probate court to compel an accounting, instruct the trustee on how to proceed, or in serious cases remove the trustee entirely (Probate Code § 17200). This is where a trust attorney’s role shifts from drafting to representing a trustee or beneficiary in an actual dispute.
When should you actually hire a trust attorney?
Marriage, a new child, buying a home, or a significant change in assets are the usual triggers for creating or updating a plan. If you already have a trust, those same events are reasons to review it rather than assume it still fits.
Complexity is the other trigger: a blended family, a business, property in more than one state, or a beneficiary who cannot manage money outright all call for more than a template. And if you are already serving as a trustee, or you are a beneficiary who cannot get a trustee to communicate or account, that is a reason to bring in a trust attorney now rather than after the relationship deteriorates further.
Figures verified July 2026.
What to do next
If you do not have a funded trust yet, start with a conversation about whether a trust actually fits your situation, since not every estate needs one. If you already have a trust and it has been years since anyone looked at it, or you are dealing with a trustee who will not communicate, talk to an estate planning attorney about your options before the situation gets harder to fix.
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