# Top Estate Planning Attorneys in Agoura Hills, CA (2026) > Agoura Hills has 81.8% homeownership, among the highest in the region. See 5 estate planning attorneys who serve the city, credentials included. Source: https://ridleylawoffices.com/top-estate-planning-attorneys-agoura-hills/ Agoura Hills has about 19,700 residents, a median home value near $1.1 million, a median household income around $171,000, and a median age of 46.8, older than most of Ventura or Los Angeles County. Homeownership sits at 81.8%, among the highest in the region. Those numbers describe a specific kind of estate: long-held, owner-occupied, and often bought decades before the current market took hold. Agoura Hills incorporated in 1982, but a lot of its housing stock predates that, purchased in the 1970s and early 1980s by families who are now in their 70s, 80s, and beyond, sitting on homes worth many multiples of what they paid. A meaningful share of that population is also thinking about second homes, multi-generational transfers, or a trust that hasn’t been touched since the kids were still living at home. Agoura Hills sits close to the Ventura County line, near enough that some residents assume probate here works the way it does for their friends in Westlake Village or Oak Park. It doesn’t. Agoura Hills is entirely within Los Angeles County, and probate is heard at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse, 111 N. Hill Street, in downtown Los Angeles, not in Oxnard. --- ## How to vet an estate planning attorney The California State Bar certifies attorneys as Legal Specialists in Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Law. Fewer than 1% of California attorneys hold this credential. It requires a written exam, substantial documented experience, and peer review. You can verify any attorney’s specialist status at [calbar.ca.gov](https://www.calbar.ca.gov). Beyond certification, look for: - A practice focused on estate planning, not a general practice that also handles trusts on the side. - Direct access to the attorney, not a paralegal-driven process that hands you a binder to sign. - Flat, disclosed fees, quoted before you engage. - Knowledge that Agoura Hills is Los Angeles County, not Ventura County. Probate here is filed at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse in downtown Los Angeles. An attorney who defaults to Oxnard because that’s where most of their Ventura County practice files isn’t paying close enough attention to your specific address. --- ## Estate planning attorneys serving Agoura Hills ### [Ridley Law](https://ridleylawoffices.com/estate-planning-agoura-hills/) Eric D. Ridley has practiced estate planning in Ventura County since 2010, working with families across Agoura Hills, Westlake Village, and the surrounding area. The firm handles living trusts, wills, powers of attorney, advance healthcare directives, trust administration, and probate. [Flat-fee pricing](https://ridleylawoffices.com/fees/), disclosed before engagement. [Free 30-minute initial consultation](https://ridley.click/eric-30) by phone or video. 567 W. Channel Islands Boulevard, Suite 210, Port Hueneme, CA 93041. [(805) 244-5291](tel:+18052445291). ### Stephens Law Group James Stephens ([State Bar #195148](https://apps.calbar.ca.gov/attorney/Licensee/Detail/195148)) was admitted to the California Bar in 1997 and is a Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Law. He is a founding member and past president of the Conejo Valley Estate Planning Council, and his office is physically located in Agoura Hills. The firm handles wills, trusts, trust administration, and probate. 30200 Agoura Road, Suite 260, Agoura Hills, CA 91301. ### Westlake Law Group David Esquibias ([State Bar #171327](https://apps.calbar.ca.gov/attorney/Licensee/Detail/171327)) was admitted to the California Bar in 1994 and is a Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Law, with an LLM in Taxation from Villanova University. His practice includes trust litigation alongside traditional estate planning, and he regularly serves Agoura Hills clients from his Westlake Village office. 30699 Russell Ranch Road, Suite 210, Westlake Village, CA 91362. ### Law Offices of Gregory M. Hultgren Gregory Hultgren ([State Bar #100910](https://apps.calbar.ca.gov/attorney/Licensee/Detail/100910)) was admitted to the California Bar in 1981 and is a Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Law, with over 45 years of practice from his Newbury Park office. The firm handles trusts, wills, probate, and trust administration. 2820 Camino Dos Rios, Suite 301, Newbury Park, CA 91320. ### Ferguson Case Orr Paterson LLP John Mark Andersen ([State Bar #162930](https://apps.calbar.ca.gov/attorney/Licensee/Detail/162930)) is a Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Law based in Ventura. The firm is one of the larger regional practices in the area, with an established trust, estate, and probate group serving clients well beyond Ventura itself, including Agoura Hills. 1050 S. Kimball Road, Ventura, CA 93004. --- ## What Agoura Hills families actually deal with ### Old-money basis, new-money value A significant share of Agoura Hills was purchased in the 1970s and early 1980s, before or right around incorporation, at prices that look almost fictional today: $60,000 to $150,000 for homes now worth well over $1 million. The families who bought then are frequently still in the house, now in their 70s or older, and the gap between what they paid and what the home is worth is enormous. That gap doesn’t just matter for property taxes. It shapes everything about how the estate plan should be structured, from whether the kids can afford to keep the house to whether a trust needs updating to reflect grandchildren who didn’t exist when it was drafted. ### An aging, owner-occupied population With a median age of 46.8 and homeownership at 81.8%, Agoura Hills skews older and more settled than most of the surrounding communities. That combination means incapacity planning, not just death planning, deserves real attention here: financial and healthcare powers of attorney that name people who are actually available and willing to act, not a sibling who moved away decades ago or a friend who has since died. It also means multi-generational and second-home planning comes up more often than in a younger community, since many of these families are now planning not just for their own children but for grandchildren and, in some cases, a second property they’ve held for years. ### Los Angeles County, not Ventura County Agoura Hills sits close enough to the Ventura County line that it’s easy to assume the same courthouse rules apply as in Westlake Village or Oak Park. They don’t. Agoura Hills is fully within Los Angeles County, and any probate matter is heard at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse in downtown Los Angeles, a significantly busier court than the Ventura County probate division in Oxnard, with its own local rules, its own calendar, and its own delays. A trust avoids the question entirely. A will does not. ### Prop 19 and Agoura Hills’ housing stock Before Proposition 19 took effect in February 2021, a child who inherited a parent’s home also inherited the parent’s tax basis, with no cap. That is no longer the case. Under Prop 19, a child who inherits a parent’s primary residence and moves in within one year gets a partial exclusion: the first $1,044,586 of reassessed value above the prior taxable value is excluded, and anything above that is reassessed to current market value. A child who doesn’t move in gets no exclusion at all, and the home is fully reassessed. Given how many Agoura Hills homes carry a rock-bottom 1970s or 1980s assessed value against a median current value near $1.1 million, the difference between a child moving in and a child not moving in can be tens of thousands of dollars a year in property tax. On a home assessed at $120,000 with a current market value of $1.1 million, a full reassessment can move the annual property tax bill from roughly $1,400 to over $12,000. ### The probate math on an Agoura Hills home Probate fees in California are set by statute ([Probate Code §§ 10810 and 10800](https://ridleylawoffices.com/probate/)), calculated on the gross value of the estate, not equity net of any mortgage. On an Agoura Hills home at the city’s median value of $1.1 million, the statutory fee is $24,000 for the attorney and $24,000 for the executor. That’s $48,000 in statutory fees alone, before court costs, appraisal fees, or any petition for extraordinary compensation, and before anyone has found parking near the Stanley Mosk Courthouse. A [funded living trust](https://ridleylawoffices.com/living-trust-attorney/) avoids probate, and the $48,000, entirely, at a fraction of the cost. The difference is whether you pay for the plan now, while you’re alive and in control, or your family pays for probate later, in downtown Los Angeles. ## Frequently asked questions ### Does Agoura Hills have its own probate court? No. Agoura Hills sits close to the Ventura County line, but the city is entirely within Los Angeles County, and probate is heard at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse, 111 N. Hill Street in downtown Los Angeles. An attorney who defaults to Oxnard because that’s where their Ventura County cases file isn’t paying close enough attention to your actual address. ### Is probate expensive on a median-value Agoura Hills home? Yes. Probate Code § 10810 calculates the statutory fee on the gross value of the estate, not equity net of any mortgage. On an Agoura Hills home at the city’s median value of $1.1 million, that works out to $24,000 for the attorney and $24,000 for the executor, about $48,000 in fees alone, before court costs, appraisals, or a petition for extraordinary compensation. ### Why does a 1970s or 1980s purchase price still matter for an Agoura Hills estate plan? Significantly. A lot of Agoura Hills was purchased for $60,000 to $150,000 before or around the city’s 1982 incorporation, and those homes are now worth well over $1.1 million. The families who bought then are often still living there in their 70s or older. That gap between old purchase price and current value shapes whether the kids can afford to keep the house and whether the trust still fits the family. ### Will my children face a big property tax increase if they inherit my Agoura Hills home? Not if they move in within a year, but yes otherwise. Proposition 19 excludes the first $1,044,586 of reassessed value when a child inherits a parent’s primary residence and moves in within one year. On an Agoura Hills home assessed around $120,000 with a market value near $1.1 million, a full reassessment can move the annual tax bill from roughly $1,400 to over $12,000. ### Does an Agoura Hills family need an incapacity plan, not just a will? Usually, yes. Agoura Hills has a median age of 46.8 and homeownership near 82 percent, both signs of a settled, aging population. Financial and healthcare powers of attorney matter as much as a trust here, and they need to name people who are actually available to act, not a sibling who moved away years ago. Incapacity planning gets skipped more often than death planning, and it shouldn’t be. --- *Credentials listed are drawn from the firms’ own public information, the State Bar of California, and public court records. This page is not a ranking and is not an endorsement. Ridley Law is listed first because we publish this page, not because of any ranking; we are included because we serve Agoura Hills. We wrote this page, and we think you should know that. Verify any attorney’s license status and specialist certification at [calbar.ca.gov](https://www.calbar.ca.gov).*