Short answer: An estate planning attorney drafts documents that hold up under California law, makes sure a trust is actually funded so your family avoids probate, and catches the gaps a generic template cannot see, like what happens if a beneficiary predeceases you or you own property outside California. Skipping legal advice does not save money if the documents fail: California’s intestate succession statutes, not your wishes, decide who inherits if you die without a valid will (Prob. Code § 6400). A complete trust-based estate plan at Ridley Law, including a revocable living trust, pour-over will, incapacity documents, and the deed moving a California home into the trust, is a flat $4,100 for a married couple or $3,700 for a single person.
What does an estate planning attorney actually do?
An estate planning attorney drafts the core documents: a revocable living trust, a pour-over will, a durable power of attorney, and an advance health care directive. Drafting is only part of the job. The bigger task is making sure the trust actually holds your assets. A trust that is signed but never funded, meaning your house, accounts, and other property were never retitled into it, does not avoid probate for anything left outside it. An attorney also coordinates beneficiary designations on retirement accounts and life insurance so they match the rest of the plan instead of contradicting it, since those assets pass by contract, not by your will or trust.
Can I write my own will or trust in California?
Nothing stops you from writing your own will or trust, and generic templates are widely available online. The risk is not the paper, it is what happens later when the document does not hold up the way you assumed it would. If a will was last known to be in the testator’s own possession and cannot be found after death, California law presumes the testator destroyed it on purpose, which revokes it, though the presumption can be challenged (Prob. Code § 6124). A will that is technically valid but poorly drafted still does not avoid probate; it only takes effect once a court validates it through the probate process. A DIY plan can also miss a blended family issue that a straightforward one would not: stepchildren who were never legally adopted, and unmarried partners, generally inherit nothing under California’s intestate succession rules (Prob. Code §§ 6401 through 6402).
What does it cost if my estate plan has a gap?
If there is no valid trust and no valid will, or the trust was signed but never funded, the estate goes through California’s court-supervised probate process, which typically runs twelve to eighteen months. Probate is not free. The statutory fee schedule pays the executor and the estate’s attorney identical fees, each calculated as 4 percent of the first $100,000, 3 percent of the next $100,000, 2 percent of the next $800,000, and smaller percentages above that (Prob. Code §§ 10800 and 10810). On a $1,000,000 estate, that schedule produces $23,000 for the executor and a separate $23,000 for the attorney, or $46,000 in ordinary statutory fees before court costs or bond. A funded revocable living trust is what keeps a family out of that process in the first place.
How much does an estate planning attorney cost?
At Ridley Law, a complete trust-based estate plan, meaning a revocable living trust, pour-over will, incapacity documents, and the deed transferring a California home into the trust, is a flat $4,100 for a married couple and $3,700 for a single person. Work outside the flat fee, such as a trust administration dispute or a matter that requires extended legal involvement, is billed at an hourly rate of $500. Set that against the $46,000 statutory fee example above on a $1,000,000 probate estate, and the flat-fee plan is the cheaper outcome for most families, not just the more convenient one. Full detail on what is and is not included is on the firm’s fee page.
When should I update my estate plan?
An estate plan is not a document you sign once and file away. Marriage, divorce, the birth or adoption of a child, the death of a named executor or trustee, a move to or from California, or a significant change in assets are all reasons to revisit the plan with an attorney. A trustee named years ago may no longer be the right choice for the job. Beneficiary designations on retirement accounts do not update themselves after a divorce, and a house bought after the trust was signed does not fund itself into that trust. Reviewing the plan periodically, rather than waiting for a crisis to expose the gap, is what keeps it doing the job it was written for.
What to do next
If you already have a will or trust, pull it out and check whether it still reflects your family, your assets, and your current wishes. If you do not have one, or you are not sure whether yours was ever funded, that is worth resolving with an estate planning attorney before it becomes your family’s problem to sort out without you.
Figures verified July 2026.
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