High-Net-Worth Estate Planning in Westlake Village

High-Net-Worth Estate Planning in Westlake Village

Westlake Village is the wealthiest community in this part of Ventura and Los Angeles counties, and the estate planning needs here are meaningfully different from most surrounding cities. Median home values routinely run $1.3 million to $1.8 million and above, and lakefront or golf course properties often exceed that. Many residents have estates in the $3 million to $10 million range, and some substantially higher. At those levels, the federal estate tax is not a hypothetical planning concern, it is a real number, and the strategies that handle it are more complex than a basic revocable living trust.

I am an estate planning attorney serving Westlake Village and all of Ventura County. I do this work over Zoom or by phone and sign documents in person. I work regularly with executives in financial services and entertainment, entrepreneurs who have had liquidity events, and professionals with equity compensation packages. This is not a one-size plan. For the foundational conversation, see estate planning in Westlake Village.

When the federal estate tax actually applies

The federal exemption is $15,000,000 per person, or $30,000,000 for a married couple using portability, permanent as of 2026 under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. At that level, most Westlake Village residents are not currently exposed. But some are: a successful entrepreneur with a business worth $5 million that keeps appreciating, a lake-view home worth $2.5 million, significant retirement accounts, and a life insurance policy can add up to a taxable estate, particularly for a single person who only gets one exemption instead of two, or a couple where one spouse is not a U.S. citizen and cannot use the unlimited marital deduction. Planning now still locks in strategies, like moving future appreciation out of the estate, that are far more efficient to start early than to play catch-up on later.

The tools that work at this level

A spousal lifetime access trust removes assets from both spouses’ taxable estates while still allowing the surviving spouse to benefit from the trust during their lifetime. A grantor retained annuity trust is effective when you have an asset expected to appreciate significantly. Irrevocable life insurance trusts remove life insurance death benefits from the taxable estate. Annual gifting programs use the annual exclusion to steadily transfer wealth out of the estate over time without gift tax. These are not exotic strategies. They are the standard toolkit for estates at this level, and they work best when implemented before the estate grows into the tax zone, not after.

Trustee duties get more demanding as the trust grows

A revocable trust holding $8 million in diversified assets, business interests, and investment property places real fiduciary duties on whoever serves as successor trustee. The prudent investor duties, the duty to diversify, and the duty to account become significantly harder to satisfy at higher asset levels and with more complex holdings. Naming a family member as sole trustee for a large, complicated trust without support can set them up to fail. I discuss trustee selection, professional co-trustees, and trust protector provisions as part of building the plan itself, not as an afterthought once the trust is already funded.

Where this connects to asset protection

Westlake Village has a significant population of executives, finance professionals, and entrepreneurs, and with that comes professional liability exposure. The same irrevocable trust structures that reduce estate tax also provide creditor protection, and properly structured LLCs can protect investment property from liability while also serving estate planning goals. The plan that handles both problems at once is usually more efficient than addressing them separately. Estate tax planning and asset protection both connect here.

Coordinating with multiple advisors

A Westlake Village client with a $6 million estate typically already has a financial advisor, a CPA, and sometimes a family office managing pieces of their finances. The estate plan works best when I am coordinating with those advisors rather than drafting in isolation. The CPA needs to know what irrevocable structures exist so tax returns are filed correctly. The financial advisor needs to know which accounts are titled in a trust versus held individually so beneficiary designations line up with the plan instead of contradicting it. I build that coordination into the engagement from the start rather than leaving clients to relay technical details between professionals who are not talking to each other directly.

What the law requires of larger trusts

IRC §2010(c) sets the $15,000,000 applicable exclusion amount that most Westlake Village estates are measured against, and IRC §1014 provides the stepped-up basis that makes holding appreciated assets until death often more tax-efficient than selling or gifting them during life. Cal. Prob. Code §16000 et seq. imposes a detailed set of fiduciary duties on trustees, including the duty of loyalty, the duty to deal impartially with multiple beneficiaries, and the duty to invest prudently, all of which carry more weight and more risk as a trust’s asset base grows. And for clients considering irrevocable trusts funded with property they might otherwise want to keep some connection to, IRC §2036 is the provision that can pull assets back into the taxable estate if the grantor retains too much control or benefit, which is why irrevocable trust drafting for high-net-worth clients has to be precise about what strings, if any, the grantor keeps.

Questions Westlake Village clients ask

Is my estate actually large enough to worry about federal estate tax? Maybe not today, but possibly in five or ten years. I will do a rough estate calculation at the consultation so we are starting from real numbers, not guesses. Many people underestimate their estate because they do not count life insurance or retirement accounts.

If I set up an irrevocable trust and the exemption never applies to me, did I waste my effort? No. Irrevocable trusts also provide asset protection, can create income tax efficiency, and allow wealth to grow outside the taxable estate for future generations. The downside of acting early is minimal compared to the downside of waiting and finding the window has closed.

How does this work if part of my wealth is in a business? Business interests require special valuation and structuring. The entity’s value for estate tax purposes can sometimes be discounted, which reduces the taxable amount. This connects directly to business succession planning and should be addressed as part of the same conversation.

Can I retain some control over assets I put in an irrevocable trust? Some, but not unlimited control. Under IRC §2036, retaining too much control or the right to income or use of the property can pull the asset back into your taxable estate, defeating the purpose of the trust. I structure irrevocable trusts to give up exactly what the law requires and nothing more.

Book a consultation at https://ridley.click/eric-60 or call 805-244-5291. I serve Westlake Village and all of Ventura County.

See also estate tax planning and trust administration for Westlake Village.