# The 34 Most Dangerous Estate Planning Mistakes

> Most estate plans don't fail in court. They fail quietly, a few weeks after a funeral, because of a hole nobody found while it could still be fixed.

Source: https://ridleylawoffices.com/books/34-estate-planning-mistakes/

![Cover of The 34 Most Dangerous Estate Planning Mistakes: A California Guide to Protecting Your Home, Your Money and Your Family, by Eric Ridley](/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/34-estate-planning-mistakes-eric-ridley-cover-640.webp)

A California Guide to Protecting Your Home, Your Money and Your Family

By Eric Ridley, attorney, Ridley Law

Coming soon to Amazon

[See all books by Eric Ridley](https://ridleylawoffices.com/books/)

**Most estate plans don’t fail in court. They fail quietly, a few weeks after a funeral, because of a hole nobody found while it could still be fixed.**

*The 34 Most Dangerous Estate Planning Mistakes* is a plain-English guide for Californians who want their plan to work. It’s written by a California attorney whose practice emphasizes estate planning, trust administration and probate, from the mistakes families run into after a death. Each chapter is one mistake: what it looks like, what it costs, and what to do instead.

**What’s inside:**

- **No plan, or the wrong one.** What happens with no will, why a will doesn’t avoid probate, and what California’s statutory probate fees cost on a typical house.
- **The trust that fails.** Unfunded trusts, the wrong trustee, co-trustees who deadlock, and what a revocable trust can’t protect you from.
- **The people you leave behind.** Guardians for minor children, young adults, special needs, blended families, and the family house left to several children.
- **Accounts that skip the plan.** Beneficiary forms, retirement accounts, pay-on-death accounts and digital assets.
- **Taxes.** The step-up in basis, the community property step-up, the federal estate tax, portability and Proposition 19.
- **Incapacity and care.** Powers of attorney, health care directives, conservatorship and Medi-Cal.

Every dollar example is labeled as an illustration and shows its arithmetic. Every rule is tied to its source. The back of the book has a 34-question self-audit, checklists, a glossary and a page of current figures.

*This book is general information about California law. It isn’t legal, tax or financial advice.*

## Read the free guide first

- [The seven mistakes that cause the most damage](https://ridleylawoffices.com/guides/estate-planning-mistakes/)
- [Free 44-point trust checkup](https://ridleylawoffices.com/trust-checkup/)

## More books: planning ahead

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- [![Cover of I Did My Trust Online. Now What?, by Eric Ridley](/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/i-did-my-trust-online-now-what-eric-ridley-cover-400.webp)I Did My Trust Online. Now What?Coming soon](https://ridleylawoffices.com/books/i-did-my-trust-online/)