Top Estate Planning Attorneys in Malibu, CA (2026)

Malibu’s population has dropped to roughly 9,500 residents, down about 10.7% since 2020, a decline driven largely by displacement after the Palisades Fire. The median home value sits near $6.7 million, with individual properties ranging from around $550,000 up past $74.5 million. Few cities in the country combine that much wealth concentration with that much recent physical and financial disruption in the same population.

That combination creates estate planning problems that don’t show up on a typical page like this one: rebuilding a fire-damaged home while its owner is incapacitated or has died, a property insurance market in open crisis, and a stretch of coastline where the deed to your own beachfront lot doesn’t tell the whole story of who can walk across it. Below are estate planning attorneys who serve Malibu, with verifiable credentials. This is not a ranking. It is a starting point for doing your own homework.

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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 passing a written exam, demonstrating substantial experience, and submitting to peer review. You can verify any attorney’s specialist status at calbar.ca.gov.

A certified specialist is not automatically the right fit. But the designation tells you the attorney has submitted to outside scrutiny in this specific area of law, which is more than most marketing claims can say.

Beyond certification, look for:

• A practice focused on estate planning, not a general practice that also “does” trusts.
• Direct access to the attorney, not a paralegal-driven mill that hands you a binder.
• Flat, disclosed fees. If an attorney won’t tell you the cost before you sign, that tells you something.
• Experience with fire-affected and coastal property, including title issues, insurance coordination, and rebuild logistics under an incapacitated or deceased owner.
• Familiarity with where Malibu probate is actually heard. Malibu has its own courthouse at 23525 W. Civic Center Way, but it does not hear probate matters. Los Angeles County probate, including Malibu, is filed at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse, 111 N. Hill Street, downtown Los Angeles. An attorney who doesn’t know this without being told hasn’t handled many Malibu estates.

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Estate planning attorneys serving Malibu

Ridley Law

Eric D. Ridley has practiced estate planning in Ventura County since 2010, working with families across Malibu, the Ventura County line, and the surrounding coastal area. The firm handles living trusts, wills, powers of attorney, advance healthcare directives, trust administration, and probate. Flat-fee pricing, disclosed before engagement. Free 30-minute initial consultation by phone or video.

567 W. Channel Islands Boulevard, Suite 210, Port Hueneme, CA 93041. (805) 244-5291.

Sultan & Sultan

Bruce Sultan (State Bar #157864) and Sonya Fox Sultan (State Bar #106393) both sit on the Los Angeles County Superior Court’s Probate Appointed Counsel panel, meaning the court itself has vetted and approved them to handle probate matters on its behalf. Sonya Fox Sultan also serves on the Executive Committee of the Trust & Estate Section of the Los Angeles County Bar Association. The firm is based in Santa Monica, the closest concentration of experienced trust and probate attorneys to Malibu.

2530 Wilshire Boulevard, 3rd Floor, Santa Monica, CA 90403. (310) 828-4050.

Ferguson Case Orr Paterson LLP

John Mark Andersen (State Bar #162930) has been a Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Law since 2008, holds a JD from UC Hastings, and is known for representing public figures, a relevant credential given how many Malibu clients value discretion.

1050 S. Kimball Road, Ventura, CA 93004. Westlake Village office also available.

Westlake Law Group

David Esquibias (State Bar #171327) is a Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Law who also holds an LLM in Taxation, useful for Malibu estates where appreciated coastal real property and complex holding structures are the norm rather than the exception.

Westlake Village, CA 91361.

Botti & Morison

Christopher Botti (State Bar #150071) is a Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Law with offices in both Westlake Village and Santa Barbara, giving the firm reach across the coastal corridor that includes Malibu.

Westlake Village, CA 91361, and Santa Barbara, CA.

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What Malibu families actually deal with

Rebuilding in trust after the Palisades Fire

When a fire-damaged property is titled in a trust and the trustee has died or become incapacitated mid-rebuild, the successor trustee inherits every open thread: pending permits, a contractor mid-contract, and insurance proceeds that need to be tracked, deposited, and spent according to both the policy and the trust’s own terms. A trust drafted before the fire may not clearly authorize a successor trustee to manage a construction project, negotiate with a contractor, or draw against an insurance claim on the beneficiaries’ behalf. For any Malibu family currently rebuilding, or planning to, this is not a hypothetical. It needs to be addressed in the trust document itself, not improvised after the fact.

The insurance crisis is now a fiduciary planning problem

The California FAIR Plan carried a rate increase of roughly 36% in 2026, on top of an already strained private insurance market along the Malibu coast. A successor trustee managing property on behalf of beneficiaries has a fiduciary duty to maintain adequate insurance, and “adequate” now costs meaningfully more than it did even two years ago. Estate plans that assumed a stable insurance budget need to be revisited, and trustees need enough liquidity, or clear authority to reallocate trust assets, to keep coverage in place without a fire sale of other holdings.

Carbon Beach and the public-access easement most owners don’t think about

Carbon Beach, known informally as “Billionaire’s Beach,” holds roughly 70 homes valued between $30 million and over $200 million. Many of these parcels are subject to a public pedestrian easement held by the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority (MRCA) along the shoreline. That easement is a real encumbrance on title, not a formality, and it needs to be accounted for when the property is transferred into a trust, when it’s appraised for estate tax purposes, or when it’s eventually sold by a successor trustee. An attorney unfamiliar with Malibu’s coastal title issues may not think to check for it.

New construction and the flood elevation requirement

Rebuilt or new construction along much of the Malibu coast must sit above the FEMA Base Flood Elevation, roughly 19 feet in the affected zones. That requirement shapes what a rebuilt home can look like, what it costs, and how long the permitting process takes, all of which matters directly to a trust or estate managing a property mid-construction after an owner’s death or incapacity.

A shrinking, more transient population means more absentee trustees

Malibu’s population decline since 2020, concentrated among fire-displaced residents, means a growing share of Malibu property is now managed by trustees who no longer live in Malibu, or in some cases no longer live in California. An absentee trustee can still fulfill fiduciary duties, but distance makes routine matters, insurance renewals, contractor decisions, tenant issues, slower and more error-prone. Naming a co-trustee or professional fiduciary with local presence is worth considering for any Malibu trust where the named successor trustee lives elsewhere.

The probate math on a Malibu home

Probate fees in California are set by statute (Probate Code §§ 10810 and 10800), calculated on the gross value of the probate estate, not the net equity. On a Malibu home at the city’s median value of $6.7 million, the statutory fee is $80,000 for the attorney and $80,000 for the executor, or $160,000 combined, before court costs, filing fees, appraisals, or any petition for extraordinary compensation. Given that Malibu property values range up past $74 million, the number for some estates is dramatically higher still.

A funded living trust avoids probate entirely. The cost of a trust is a fraction of those fees. The difference is that you pay for the trust while you’re alive and in control, or your family pays for probate after you’re gone and has no say in the cost.

Where Malibu probate is heard

Malibu has its own courthouse at 23525 W. Civic Center Way, but it does not hear probate matters. If an estate goes through probate, it is filed at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse, 111 N. Hill Street, downtown Los Angeles. This surprises a lot of Malibu families who assume their local courthouse handles everything. Your attorney should know this without being told.

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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 Malibu. We wrote this page, and we think you should know that. Verify any attorney’s license status and specialist certification at calbar.ca.gov.