Top Estate Planning Attorneys in Newbury Park, CA (2026)

Newbury Park is an unincorporated community of about 43,000 people within Thousand Oaks, with a median home value near $975,000 and a median household income around $165,000. It is also a community split, informally but distinctly, between two very different estate planning problems.

On one side of town is Dos Vientos, a master-planned subdivision of more than 2,300 homes built out mostly since the late 1990s, and it skews young: growing families with minor children, dual incomes, and, for a lot of residents, the first estate plan they’ve ever needed to think about. On the other side are the older Newbury Park neighborhoods, developed decades earlier and now home to longtime residents aging in place, often with trusts drafted years or decades ago that no longer reflect their family, their health, or the law. Amgen’s biotech campus, one of the largest employers in the region, adds a third layer: professionals relocating to Newbury Park from out of state who arrive without any California-compliant estate plan at all.

Probate for Newbury Park, as an unincorporated part of Ventura County, is heard at the Ventura County Superior Court’s Juvenile and Probate Division in Oxnard, not at any courthouse in Newbury Park or Thousand Oaks itself.

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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 a written exam, substantial documented experience, and peer review. You can verify any attorney’s specialist status at 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.
• Familiarity with Ventura County probate procedure. Newbury Park matters are filed at the Juvenile and Probate Division, 4353 E. Vineyard Avenue, Oxnard, CA 93036, not at any local courthouse.

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Estate planning attorneys serving Newbury Park

Ridley Law

Eric D. Ridley has practiced estate planning in Ventura County since 2010, working with families across Newbury Park, Thousand Oaks, and the surrounding 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.

Law Offices of Gregory M. Hultgren

Gregory Hultgren (State Bar #100910) was admitted to the California Bar in 1981 and is a Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Law. He has practiced in Newbury Park for over 45 years, making him the most senior estate planning attorney with an office in the community itself. The firm handles trusts, wills, probate, and trust administration.

2820 Camino Dos Rios, Suite 301, Newbury Park, CA 91320.

Pederson Law

Grant Pederson (State Bar #249433) was admitted to the California Bar in 2007 and is a past chair of the Conejo Valley Estate Planning Council. He practices from neighboring Westlake Village and regularly serves Newbury Park clients. The firm handles wills, trusts, trust administration, and probate.

920 Hampshire Road, Suite A1, Westlake Village, CA 91361.

Westlake Law Group

David Esquibias (State Bar #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, based in neighboring Westlake Village.

30699 Russell Ranch Road, Suite 210, Westlake Village, CA 91362.

Botti & Morison

Christopher Botti (State Bar #150071) was admitted to the California Bar in 1990 and is a Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Law. The firm handles estate planning, trust administration, and probate, including trust and probate litigation, from its Westlake Village office.

2625 Townsgate Road, Suite 330, Westlake Village, CA 91361.

CunninghamLegal

James Cunningham (State Bar #171843) leads this multi-office California firm, with a location in neighboring Westlake Village serving the Newbury Park area. CunninghamLegal is a larger operation than most firms on this list, with a statewide footprint.

4165 E. Thousand Oaks Boulevard, Suite 145, Westlake Village, CA 91362.

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What Newbury Park families actually deal with

Dos Vientos and the young-family gap

Dos Vientos is home to more than 2,300 houses built mostly since the late 1990s, and it’s a neighborhood of young families: kids in school, mortgages taken out in the last decade, and parents who have generally not gotten around to naming a guardian for their children if something happened to both of them. That guardian nomination doesn’t happen automatically. Without one, a court decides who raises your children, on its own timeline, possibly among family members who disagree. A basic estate plan for a Dos Vientos family isn’t really about the house. It’s about the guardian designation and the life insurance beneficiary designations lining up with the plan, not fighting it.

Amgen and the relocating professional

Amgen’s Thousand Oaks-area campus, one of the largest biotech employers in the region, draws professionals moving to Newbury Park from other states. Many arrive with an out-of-state will or none at all, and with equity compensation, stock options or restricted stock units, that an out-of-state plan never anticipated. California will generally recognize a validly executed out-of-state will, but that’s a low bar. It doesn’t mean the plan accounts for California community property rules, California probate procedure, or beneficiary designations on equity comp that may have vested or changed since the move. A relocation is a natural point to redo the plan, not just relocate it.

Aging in place in older Newbury Park

The older neighborhoods of Newbury Park, developed well before Dos Vientos, are home to a lot of residents aging in place in the same house they’ve owned for decades. That population has a different set of needs: trusts that haven’t been reviewed since a spouse died, a successor trustee moved away or is no longer capable of serving, or since the documents were signed and simply need updating, and a growing need for incapacity planning, financial and healthcare powers of attorney that name the right people and are current, not decades old and potentially unfamiliar to the banks and doctors being asked to honor them.

Prop 19 and Newbury Park’s housing stock

Much of older Newbury Park was built out in the 1960s through the 1980s. Families who bought during that period commonly have property-tax assessments in the range of $100,000 to $200,000. The median home in Newbury Park is now worth about $975,000.

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.

On a Newbury Park home assessed at $150,000 with a current market value of $975,000, a full reassessment can move the annual property tax bill from roughly $1,800 to close to $11,000. That’s a real number for a family deciding whether to keep the house or sell it.

The probate math on a Newbury Park home

Probate fees in California are set by statute (Probate Code §§ 10810 and 10800), calculated on the gross value of the estate, not equity net of any mortgage. On a Newbury Park home at the city’s median value of $975,000, the statutory fee is $22,500 for the attorney and $22,500 for the executor. That’s $45,000 in statutory fees alone, before court costs, appraisal fees, or any petition for extraordinary compensation.

A funded living trust avoids probate, and the $45,000, 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, with a drive to Oxnard included.

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