By Ilana Plotkin Schauer, Partner / Head of Litigation
And Andy Schauer, Partner / Head of Transaction Law & Estate Planning
In California, "keeping it simple" can be the most expensive decision a homeowner makes. Many of our clients in Calabasas and the Hidden Hills area come to us believing that a Last Will and Testament is the gold standard for protection.
The hard fact? In the eyes of the California court system, a Will is merely an invitation to Probate. In technical terms, probate is the court-supervised legal process of validating a deceased person's Will, settling their debts, and formally transferring asset titles to heirs. In California, if your individually-owned assets exceed $184,500 (a threshold easily met by most Calabasas homeowners) the state mandates this public and bureaucratic oversight regardless of how “simple” your Will may be.
But trying to keep things simple can come at a cost: California is one of the few states where fees for “Personal Representatives” for probate – and their attorneys – are set by law (California Probate Code §§ 10800 and 10810, respectively). These fees are calculated based on the gross value of your assets, not the equity. If you own a home in Calabasas valued at $1.5 million, the court-mandated fees for a Personal Representative would look like this:
|
Asset Brackets |
Statutory Fee |
|
First $100k: 4% |
$4,000 |
|
Next $100k: 3% |
$3,000 |
|
Next $800k: 2% |
$16,000 |
|
Next $500k: 1% |
$5,000 |
|
TOTAL PER PARTY |
$28,000 |
Total Estimated Statutory Fees: $28,000 for the Personal Representative AND $28,000 for their attorney.
Before your family even receives a dime, $56,000 could be gone. And that’s just for the professionals’ services; when factoring in the associate filing fees and other costs, that number could be substantially higher.
Three Concrete Reasons to Bypass Probate
-
The Gross Value Trap: The court calculates fees based on the $1.5M market value, even if you still owe $1M on the mortgage.
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The Public "Price Tag": Because probate is a public process, anyone can access the file.
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The 12-Month Freeze: The average Los Angeles County probate currently takes 12 to 18 months.
The "Engine Room" Solution
The most effective way to protect your estate from these statutory fees and court delays is a Revocable Living Trust. In a typical plan, the "Will" is the part most people see, but the Trust is the Engine Room. It is the private, functional space where your assets—your home, your accounts, and your creative IP—are organized and managed. When a property is titled in a Trust, it is administered by your chosen Successor Trustee outside of the court’s jurisdiction. This means no judges, no public filings, and no mandatory 4% fees.
At Schauer Law Group LLP, we build these "Engine Rooms" to be sophisticated enough to handle complex assets, yet accessible enough for your family to navigate with ease. By moving your Calabasas real estate into a Trust today, you aren't just drafting a document; you’re installing a system that saves your family tens of thousands of dollars and over a year of legal headaches.
Don’t leave your legacy to the default settings of the California court system; build an Engine Room that keeps your family’s future running smoothly.