Understanding Multistate Estate Planning Issues

Short answer: Owning real estate in more than one state usually means your estate can face probate in more than one place, a primary case in your home state and a separate proceeding in each other state where you hold real property in your own name. California probate alone typically runs twelve to eighteen months, and on a $1,000,000 estate the statutory fees for the executor and the estate’s attorney come to roughly $46,000 combined under Probate Code §§ 10800 and 10810, before a second state’s court costs are added. The fix, in most cases, is to move out-of-state real estate into a properly funded revocable living trust well before it is needed.

What counts as a multistate estate planning problem?

The problem shows up in a few common situations: a California resident who also owns a vacation home, rental property, or land in another state, a person who splits time between two states without clearly settling which one is their legal home, or a California resident whose heirs live out of state. The trigger is almost always real property titled in an individual’s own name outside of California. Bank accounts, brokerage accounts, and other personal property generally follow the owner’s home state, but real estate follows the state where it physically sits.

Why does owning property in two states mean two probate cases?

Real property is generally administered by the courts of the state where it is located, not the state where the owner lived. If a California resident dies owning an out-of-state property titled in their own name, that other state will typically require its own court proceeding, often called ancillary probate, before the property can be sold or transferred, on top of the primary California probate case for everything else.

The primary California case is not cheap or fast on its own. Most California probate cases take twelve to eighteen months from the date the court appoints a personal representative. On a $1,000,000 gross estate, the statutory fee schedule produces $23,000 for the executor and a separate $23,000 for the estate’s attorney, or about $46,000 in ordinary fees before court costs, bond, or extraordinary fees, under Probate Code §§ 10800 and 10810. A second proceeding in another state adds its own timeline and its own costs on top of that.

Does a California living trust avoid probate in other states too?

The same principle that keeps a California estate out of probate applies to property in other states, but only if the property is actually retitled into the trust. Once real property, wherever it sits, is deeded into a properly funded revocable living trust, the trustee holds legal title, so there is no need for a court to transfer it at death, in that state or in California. If the out-of-state property is never retitled into the trust, meaning the trust was never funded as to that asset, the property still faces its own court proceeding in the state where it sits, even if the owner otherwise has a complete California estate plan.

What about taxes when property is in another state?

California has no state estate tax and no state inheritance tax, under Revenue and Taxation Code § 13301. The 2026 federal estate and gift tax exemption is $15,000,000 per person. But those California and federal rules do not automatically control what happens in another state. A number of other states impose their own estate or inheritance tax, often with a much lower exemption threshold than the federal number, and those taxes can turn on where the property is located or where an heir lives, not on where the deceased person called home. Because those rules vary by state and change on their own schedules, anyone with real property or heirs outside California should confirm the current rules in that specific state rather than assume California’s tax-free treatment applies there too.

What if my heirs live in a different state?

Where your beneficiaries live generally does not, by itself, create a second probate case. What controls is where the property sits and where the deceased person was legally domiciled. That said, an out-of-state heir can complicate the practical side of administration: notices, signatures, and sometimes that heir’s own state’s tax reporting on the inheritance. None of that changes the underlying planning answer, which is still to get real property properly titled and funded into a trust so a court proceeding is not required in the first place.

What to do next

If you own real property in more than one state, or expect to inherit real property located outside California, have your estate plan reviewed to confirm every parcel is actually deeded into your trust, not just named in it. For property in a state where you do not already have local counsel, ask your California attorney whether that state’s law requires a separate deed or a local attorney to complete the transfer.

Figures verified July 2026.