Understanding Letter of Intent in Estate Planning

Short answer: A letter of intent is a private note to your executor, trustee, and family explaining your wishes and your reasons. In California it generally doesn’t override your will or trust, because a will has to meet the formalities of Probate Code §6110 or §6111. But the line isn’t as clean as most articles say. A handwritten, signed letter can be treated as a holographic will, and a signed letter delivered to your trustee can raise the question of whether you amended your trust (Prob. Code §§6111, 15401).

Used well, a letter of intent fills the gaps a legal document can’t: why you split things unevenly, who gets grandmother’s ring, what your child with autism needs on a hard day, and where the passwords are. Used carelessly, it starts the family fight it was meant to prevent.

Law verified against Probate Code §§6110, 6111, 6111.5, 6130, 6132, 15212, 15401, and 21102, Health and Safety Code §§7100 and 7100.1, and Haggerty v. Thornton (2024) 15 Cal.5th 729, 2026. This is general information, not legal advice for your situation.

What is a letter of intent in estate planning?

It’s a written message, usually a few pages, addressed to the people who will carry out your plan: your executor if there’s a probate, your successor trustee if you have a trust, and the family members your choices affect. It isn’t filed with any court. You write it in plain language, you can update it whenever you like, and you keep it with your estate planning documents.

Your will or trust says who gets what. The letter explains why, and handles the small, practical things a legal document isn’t built for.

Is a letter of intent legally binding in California?

Usually not. A California will must be in writing, signed, and witnessed by two people present at the same time who understand it’s your will (Prob. Code §6110(c)(1)). A trust’s dispositions are controlled by the intention the transferor expressed in the trust instrument itself (Prob. Code §21102(a)). A typed, unsigned letter that describes your wishes doesn’t meet either test, so if it conflicts with your will or trust, the will or trust controls.

A letter can still end up carrying legal weight when:

It’s handwritten and signed. A will that isn’t witnessed is still valid as a holographic will if the signature and the material provisions are in your handwriting (Prob. Code §6111(a)). Courts may consider outside evidence to decide whether a document is a will (Prob. Code §6111.5). A handwritten, signed letter that says “I leave my house to Maria” is a problem waiting for a probate judge.
It’s delivered to your trustee. A revocable trust can be changed by a signed writing, other than a will, delivered to the trustee, unless the trust makes its own amendment method exclusive (Prob. Code §15401(a)(2)). The California Supreme Court confirmed in Haggerty v. Thornton (2024) 15 Cal.5th 729 that a trust that merely describes an amendment method doesn’t block that statutory route. If you’re your own trustee, a signed letter sitting in your trust binder can invite that argument.
Your will incorporates it. A writing that exists when a will is signed becomes part of the will if the will shows that intent and describes the writing well enough to identify it (Prob. Code §6130).
Your will refers to it as a personal property list. That’s a separate, binding tool under Probate Code §6132, explained below.

Type the letter, don’t sign it as a dispositive document, and say at the top that it’s a non-binding expression of wishes that doesn’t amend your will or trust.

Can you use a separate list for personal belongings?

Yes, and California law gives you a binding version. A will may refer to a separate writing that directs who gets your tangible personal property, such as furniture, jewelry, cars, and collections, but not cash or business property. The writing must be dated, either handwritten or signed by you, and describe the items and recipients with reasonable certainty (Prob. Code §6132(a)). You can write or change it before or after you sign the will, and the most recent writing controls (Prob. Code §6132(c), (d)).

There are dollar limits. The total value of property disposed of by the writing can’t exceed $25,000, and any single item worth more than $5,000 passes under the will’s residue instead (Prob. Code §6132(g)). For a valuable piece of jewelry or art, put it in the will or trust itself.

A §6132 list is the one place a “letter” should be binding on purpose. Keep it separate from the explanatory letter of intent so no one confuses the two.

$25,000Most the total of a § 6132 personal property writing can be worth (Prob. Code § 6132(g))

$5,000Any single item above this passes under the will’s residue instead

What should a letter of intent cover?

Reasons for unequal shares. If one child gets more because she was the caregiver, say so, in plain words. It shows the choice was deliberate.
Care of a child or dependent. Routines, doctors, medications, schools, what calms them down. For a child with a disability, this is often the most useful document the trustee of a special needs trust will ever get. Pair it with a legal guardian nomination, covered in naming a guardian for your children.
Pets. A letter can describe your pet’s care. If you want money set aside that someone can enforce, use a pet trust. California recognizes a trust for the care of an animal, and it ends when no animal living at your death remains alive unless the trust says otherwise (Prob. Code §15212(a)).
Practical details. The location of your account list, insurance policies, safe deposit box, keys, digital accounts and how to reach them.
Funeral and burial wishes. Written directions can be binding if they’re specific and paid for.

Are funeral wishes in a letter of intent enforceable?

They can be. Absent your own written directions, the right to control disposition of your remains goes first to your health care agent, then your spouse, then your adult children, and so on down a statutory list (Health & Saf. Code §7100(a)). You can override that list by writing your own directions. Written directions must be carried out if they’re clear enough to avoid material ambiguity and you’ve arranged payment, such as through a trust, insurance, or a prepaid plan (Health & Saf. Code §7100.1(a)).

So write funeral wishes specifically, and tell your family how they’re paid for. Also name your health care agent in an advance health care directive, since that agent is first in line.

How does a letter of intent work with a will or trust?

The will or trust moves the property. The letter explains it. Keep the letter with your originals, tell your executor or successor trustee where it is, and make sure nothing in it contradicts the legal documents. If you find yourself writing “I’ve changed my mind and now want,” stop. That’s an amendment, and it belongs in a properly signed document. My wills and living trust pages explain what those documents do.

How often should you update a letter of intent?

Update it whenever something changes: a new grandchild, a divorce, a falling out, a move, a new doctor for a dependent child. Date every version and destroy the old ones. For the tangible personal property list, dating matters legally, since an undated writing that conflicts with another can be invalid to the extent of the conflict (Prob. Code §6132(e)(1)).

If you don’t yet have a will or trust, start there. A letter of intent is a companion to those documents, not a substitute. I draft plans for clients throughout California by phone and Zoom, and my estate planning page explains how the pieces fit together.