To choose an estate planning attorney in Camarillo, start with credentials and process, not the price of the trust. Look for a lawyer who handles estate planning regularly (not as a sideline), quotes a flat fee, and stays involved after signing to make sure your assets are actually re-titled into your trust. Camarillo has several well-qualified options, including two California State Bar Certified Specialists in Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Law. This guide lists the real firms serving the area, explains what the credentials mean, and lays out what a plan costs versus what probate costs at Ventura Superior Court.
Below you will find neutral, factual profiles of estate planning attorneys in and around Camarillo, the actual math on California probate fees, and the local details that matter, such as Ventura County home values and the 2025 rules that changed which estates can skip full probate.
What to look for in a Camarillo estate planning attorney
Estate planning is one of those areas where the person matters more than the marketing. Here is what actually separates a solid choice from a document mill.
- Certified Specialist status (what it means). The State Bar of California, through its Board of Legal Specialization, certifies attorneys as specialists in Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Law. It is a real, earned credential: the attorney must pass a written exam, demonstrate substantial experience in the field, take continuing education, and be favorably reviewed by peers and judges. Most estate planning lawyers are not Certified Specialists. It is not required to do good work, but when you see it, it is a verified signal that the person does this all day.
- A flat fee, quoted before you commit. For a standard living trust plan, you want a flat fee, not an hourly meter. Ask what the fee includes: the trust, pour-over will, powers of attorney, and health care directive should all be part of one price.
- Funding follow-through. This is the one most people miss. A living trust only avoids probate for the assets actually re-titled into it. If your house is still in your own name when you die, the trust does not help with that house. Ask the attorney directly whether they handle re-titling your home and re-registering your accounts, or whether they hand you a binder and wish you luck.
- Local probate court experience. If a plan ever has to go through probate or trust administration, it happens at the Ventura Superior Court. An attorney who works in that courthouse regularly knows the local judges, clerks, and timelines.
- You meet the actual attorney. Ask who you will sit across from at the consultation and who will design your plan. In smaller firms, that is the same person. In larger operations, it may not be.
Estate planning attorneys serving Camarillo
These are established attorneys and firms handling estate planning, trust administration, and probate for Camarillo and the surrounding Ventura County area. They are listed alphabetically, not ranked. Credentials noted below were drawn from each attorney’s public bar record and firm materials; confirm current details directly with the office.
Law Office of Robert M. Baskin (Ventura)
A long-established Ventura general-practice firm, admitted to the California Bar in 1975, handling estate planning, probate, and trust matters alongside real estate, business, and family law. Serves Ventura, Camarillo, and the surrounding region. Located in Ventura. Estate planning is one of several practice areas rather than the firm’s sole focus.
Susan Borquez, Attorney at Law (Camarillo)
A Camarillo attorney (California Bar No. 118757) with more than 35 years of experience concentrated in estate planning, trust administration, and probate. Offers flat fees and a free initial consultation, and serves Ventura and Los Angeles Counties. Long history of local volunteer work with the Ventura County Superior Court and Camarillo community organizations.
Annette Dawson-Davis, Attorney at Law (Camarillo)
A Camarillo estate planning attorney focused on estate planning, trust administration, and probate for Ventura County families. Known locally for teaching free estate planning classes at the Camarillo Health Care District. Office in Camarillo.
Law Offices of William S. Dunlevy (Camarillo)
A Camarillo firm with roughly four decades of practice in Ventura County, handling estate planning, probate, and trust administration along with business, real estate, and homeowners-association law. Office on Paseo Camarillo.
Ridley Law — Eric D. Ridley (Port Hueneme, serving Camarillo)
Eric D. Ridley has practiced California estate planning, trust administration, and probate since 2010. Based in Port Hueneme, the firm serves Camarillo and the rest of Ventura County, plus Santa Barbara and Los Angeles Counties, and the rest of California by phone or Zoom. The first consultation is about 60 minutes, free, and with Eric personally. Trust-based plans are a flat fee, published up front (see the full living trust pricing). The process runs in five steps: free consultation, plan design, document preparation, review and signing, and ongoing support with funding follow-through. Phone: (805) 244-5291. This is a house profile; you should compare it against the others here.
The Singh Law Firm (serving the Camarillo area)
An estate planning firm serving the Camarillo area with a practice that ranges from basic wills and living trusts through advanced planning tools such as irrevocable trusts, QPRTs, GRATs, and ILITs for higher-net-worth and tax-driven situations. Offers free initial consultations. Confirm office location and the specific attorney you would work with.
Staker Rodriguez Law LLP — Kevin Staker (Camarillo)
Kevin Staker is a State Bar of California Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Law, and separately a Certified Specialist in Taxation Law — a dual certification held by relatively few California attorneys. He holds an LL.M. in Taxation from NYU, carries an AV Preeminent peer rating (Martindale-Hubbell), has been named a Super Lawyer, and received the Ventura County Bar Association’s Ben E. Nordman public-service award. The firm handles trusts, probate, trust administration, Medi-Cal planning, conservatorships, and special needs trusts. Office on Paseo Camarillo.
Law Offices of S. Sharon Yoon (Camarillo)
Sihwa “Sharon” Yoon is a State Bar of California Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Law (certified by the California Board of Legal Specialization in 2012; licensed in California since 2003). Her Camarillo practice focuses on estate planning, wills and trusts, trust administration, probate, and Medi-Cal planning. Office on Calarosa Ranch Road.
If you want to verify any attorney’s license status, discipline history, or specialist certification yourself, you can search their name for free at the State Bar of California’s public licensee search.
What estate planning actually costs vs. what probate costs
The most useful number is not the price of the trust. It is the price of doing nothing. Here is the honest comparison.
An attorney-drafted living trust plan in this area is commonly in the low thousands of dollars, on a flat fee, and includes the trust, a pour-over will, financial and health care powers of attorney, and an advance health care directive. That is the whole plan, quoted up front.
California probate, by contrast, is set by statute and is expensive by design. Under California Probate Code sections 10800 and 10810, both the attorney and the executor are each entitled to a statutory fee calculated on the gross value of the estate. Gross means the mortgage does not reduce it — a house worth $900,000 with a $500,000 loan still counts as $900,000 for the fee math. The schedule is:
| Portion of gross estate | Statutory rate |
|---|---|
| First $100,000 | 4% |
| Next $100,000 | 3% |
| Next $800,000 | 2% |
| Next $9,000,000 | 1% |
On a $1,000,000 estate, that works out to about $23,000 for the attorney and about $23,000 for the executor — roughly $46,000 total, before court filing fees, appraisal (probate referee) fees, and publication costs. Probate is also a public court process that commonly takes one to two years in California. A funded living trust is designed to avoid all of that. A trust that costs a few thousand dollars now can save tens of thousands and a year or more of court later. For the full breakdown, see our 2026 guide to California probate costs.
Camarillo-specific considerations
A few local facts change how this plays out for a Camarillo homeowner.
Probate here happens at Ventura Superior Court. If an estate has to be probated, it is filed and administered through the Ventura County Superior Court. The one-to-two-year California timeline applies here as everywhere in the state.
Your home probably exceeds the simplified-probate threshold. As of 2025, a new law (Assembly Bill 2016, effective April 1, 2025) lets a decedent’s primary residence worth up to $750,000 pass through a simplified court petition (Probate Code sections 13150–13158, Judicial Council form DE-310) instead of full probate. That helps — but the median Camarillo home now sells in the low-to-mid $800,000s, above that $750,000 line. Many Camarillo homes no longer qualify for the shortcut, which means for most local homeowners a properly funded living trust is still the tool that actually keeps the house out of probate. The simplified residence petition covers primary homes only, not rentals or vacation properties. See our explainer on the $750,000 simplified probate process for a primary residence, and if you want to keep your own home out of court, how to avoid probate on a Camarillo home.
There is also a small-estate affidavit for personal property (bank accounts, personal belongings, no real estate) up to $208,850 for deaths on or after April 1, 2025, with the next inflation adjustment due April 1, 2028. The residence petition and the personal-property affidavit stack — the home is excluded from the personal-property calculation — but neither replaces a trust when a Camarillo house is in the mix.
The Prop 19 move-in clock. If you plan to leave your home to a child and want them to keep your low Proposition 13 property-tax base, Proposition 19 now requires that the child make the home their principal residence — they must move in within one year and file for the homeowners’ exemption. The protected amount is capped at your factored base year value plus $1,044,586 (for transfers between February 16, 2025 and February 15, 2027); value above that gets reassessed. A child who inherits the house and rents it out loses the low base entirely. This is worth planning for deliberately; see our overview of Prop 19 planning.
Common questions
Who is the best estate planning attorney in Camarillo?
There is no single “best” — the right choice depends on your situation. If your estate involves significant tax exposure or complex trusts, a Certified Specialist with a tax background may be the strongest fit. If you want a straightforward funded trust with a flat fee and a lawyer who personally handles your re-titling, a focused solo or small firm may serve you better. Use the criteria above (Certified Specialist status, flat fee, funding follow-through, local court experience, and whether you actually meet the attorney) and talk to two or three offices before deciding. Several Camarillo-area attorneys, including two State Bar Certified Specialists, are well qualified.
How much does an estate plan cost in Camarillo?
An attorney-drafted living trust plan in this area is commonly in the low thousands of dollars on a flat fee, covering the trust, pour-over will, powers of attorney, and health care directive. The exact figure depends on complexity — blended families, business interests, and special-needs planning cost more than a simple married-couple plan. Compare that against roughly $46,000 in combined statutory attorney and executor fees on a $1,000,000 probate. See our detail on what a living trust costs in California.
Do I need a trust or just a will?
A will alone does not avoid probate — a will is essentially instructions to the probate court. In California, if you own real estate (as most Camarillo homeowners do), a will means your estate likely goes through the one-to-two-year probate process at Ventura Superior Court. A living trust is what keeps your home and accounts out of that process, provided it is funded. Almost every California homeowner who wants to avoid probate needs a trust, not just a will.
How do I avoid probate on my Camarillo home?
The most reliable way is a living trust with the home actually re-titled into it. This is the step people miss: signing the trust is not enough — the deed to your house has to be changed into the name of the trust. If it is not, the house is not in the trust and can still go through probate. Because most Camarillo homes now exceed the $750,000 simplified-probate threshold, a funded trust is usually the right tool. Not sure whether yours is done? See how to tell if your living trust is actually funded.
Is there any estate tax in California?
California has no state estate tax and no inheritance tax. Only the federal estate tax applies, and it affects very few families: the federal exemption is $13.99 million per person in 2025, rising to $15 million per person ($30 million for a married couple) starting January 1, 2026. For most Camarillo families, estate planning is about avoiding probate and controlling how assets pass, not about estate tax.
What happens if I do nothing?
If you die without a plan, California’s intestacy laws decide who inherits, and your estate likely goes through full probate at Ventura Superior Court — public, roughly one to two years, and carrying the statutory fees described above. Doing nothing is not free; it is usually the most expensive option, just paid later by your family.
Talk to an attorney
If you want to talk through your own situation, Eric D. Ridley offers a free consultation of about 60 minutes, and you meet with Eric personally. He has practiced California estate planning, trust administration, and probate since 2010, and serves Camarillo and Ventura County from nearby Port Hueneme (plus Santa Barbara and Los Angeles Counties, and the rest of California by phone or Zoom). Call (805) 244-5291 to set up a time. You are also encouraged to compare Ridley Law against the other qualified attorneys listed above before you decide — the goal is the right fit for your family, not a hard sell.
This is general information, not legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. For advice about your specific situation, consult a licensed California attorney.
Written by Eric D. Ridley. Estate Planning Attorney at Ridley Law, serving Ventura County since 2010.
Ready to protect what you’ve built?
Schedule a no-pressure consultation with Eric Ridley.
Schedule a Consultation