Estate & Legacy Planning
A plan that holds up,
and a tax answer to match.
Trusts, wills, directives, deeds, and administration support, drafted by an attorney who also handles the returns the plan will appear on.
Why this practice is different
Two questions, one advisor.
Every estate decision is also a tax decision. Most families get the two answers from two different offices, or only get the first one.
How title is held determines whether a surviving spouse gets a basis adjustment on one half of the house or both. Whether an asset passes through a trust, a beneficiary designation, or joint tenancy determines what the next generation inherits and what they owe. Whether a property was ever rented determines how much of the gain is actually excludable when it is sold.
None of that is visible from the estate documents alone, and none of it is visible from the return alone. This practice exists because the same person should be looking at both.
A trust that was never funded does nothing.
Signing is step one. Retitling the house, the accounts, and the business interest is what actually keeps the family out of probate, and it is the step most often left undone. Funding is part of the engagement here, not homework you leave with.
The two core plans
What each package includes.
Both plans are complete sets of documents, not a single form. The fee shown is the minimum for the scope described; plans with business interests, blended families, real property in several states, or tax-sensitive assets are scoped individually.
Plan A · Recommended for most families
Revocable living trust package
Avoids probate on funded assets, keeps the terms private, and lets a successor trustee act without a court.
From $2,500 singleFrom $3,000 married · outright distributions
Every trust package includes
- Revocable living trust with outright distributions to beneficiaries
- Pour-over will
- General durable power of attorney
- Advance health care directive
- HIPAA authorization
- Certification of trust
- Funding instructions
- One grant deed for the primary residence
- Personal property assignment and memorandum
- Memorial instructions
- Estate planning binder with executed originals
Package fees assume beneficiaries receive their shares outright. Continuing trusts, such as shares held in trust until a set age, for a beneficiary's lifetime, or for asset protection, are billed at a higher rate. Additional deeds, out-of-state property, and specialty trusts are priced as additions.
Plan B · Smaller or simpler estates
Will-based package
Directs who receives what and who is in charge, and puts decision-making authority in place while you are living.
From $1,000 singleFrom $1,500 married
Every will package includes
- Last will and testament
- General durable power of attorney
- Advance health care directive
- HIPAA authorization
- Personal property memorandum
- Memorial instructions
A will does not avoid probate. Where real property is involved, the trust plan is usually the less expensive path once probate compensation is accounted for.
Which plan, in one sentence.
If you own real property, the trust plan is almost always the answer. If your estate is modest, held in accounts with beneficiary designations, and you mainly need someone authorized to act for you, the will plan may be enough. The first appointment settles it.
How an engagement runs
Four meetings, one binder.
Design meeting
We inventory what you own and how it is titled, identify who should act and in what order, and flag the tax issues hiding in the assets: former rentals, low-basis property, retirement accounts, business interests, out-of-state real estate.
Drafting and review
You receive drafts with the provisions that matter explained in plain language. Changes are expected at this stage; that is what the stage is for.
Signing
Documents are executed with the notarization and witnessing each one requires, and you leave with a binder of originals plus secure electronic copies.
Funding
The deed is recorded and the accounts and interests are retitled into the trust. This is the step that makes the plan real, and it is included rather than handed back to you.
Beyond the core plan
Specialty trusts & stand-alone documents.
Some situations need a purpose-built instrument. These are drafted to sit inside the larger plan rather than beside it.
| Instrument | Typically used when | From |
|---|---|---|
| Special needs trust | A beneficiary receives, or may need, means-tested public benefits | $2,500 |
| Medi-Cal planning trust | Long-term care costs and eligibility are the central concern | $2,500 |
| Intentionally defective grantor trust | Appreciating assets are being moved out of the estate deliberately | $2,500 |
| Charitable remainder trust | A charitable goal is combined with an income stream and a deduction | $2,500 |
| Irrevocable life insurance trust | Policy proceeds should sit outside the taxable estate | $2,500 |
| Gun trust | Firearms require regulated transfer and successor handling | $980 |
| Pet trust | An animal needs funded, enforceable care instructions | $500 |
A special needs trust added to a full trust package is $1,200 rather than the stand-alone figure.
| Document | Notes | From |
|---|---|---|
| Advance health care directive, HIPAA authorization, or durable power of attorney | Each, prepared individually | $295 |
| Trust amendment | A single change set to an existing trust | $415 |
| Transfer deed | Per property, including recording coordination | $595 |
| Last will and testament | Without the surrounding package | $700 |
| Trust restatement | A full rewrite where amendments would be unworkable | $980 |
Administration
Probate & trust administration.
Executors · Administrators · Successor trustees
If you have been named and someone has died, the job started before you understood it.
Support covers the petition and court sequence, notices to beneficiaries and creditors, inventory and appraisal, transfers and deeds, the accounting, distribution, and the tax filings the role requires: the decedent's final return, fiduciary income tax returns, and any estate or gift reporting.
Trust administration without a court is simpler but not automatic: the successor trustee still owes notice, accounting, and fiduciary duties, and the tax filings do not disappear because probate was avoided.
Set by statute, not by this firm.
California Probate Code sections 10800 and 10810 base attorney compensation and executor commissions on the gross value of the estate, on a sliding scale beginning at 4% of the first $100,000 and decreasing to 0.5% of the next $15 million. Extraordinary services may be compensated separately by court order.
Estate planning questions
What clients ask first.
Do I need a trust, or is a will enough?
If you own real property in California, a trust is usually the better answer, because probate compensation is statutory and based on the gross value of the estate, so the house counts at full value regardless of the mortgage. If your estate is modest and passes largely by beneficiary designation, a will-based plan may be sufficient.
What does "funding" mean, and why does it keep coming up?
Funding is retitling assets into the trust: recording a deed for real property, changing account registrations, assigning business interests. An unfunded trust is a well-drafted document with nothing inside it, and the estate goes through probate anyway. Funding is part of the engagement here.
How is a revocable trust different from an irrevocable one?
A revocable trust can be amended or revoked during your life, the assets remain yours for tax purposes, and it is primarily a probate and incapacity tool. An irrevocable trust gives up that control in exchange for a specific benefit: creditor protection, benefits eligibility, or moving assets out of the taxable estate. Different tools, different jobs.
Does an estate plan reduce my taxes?
Sometimes, and it is rarely the part people expect. For most families the meaningful tax effects are about basis at death, how title is held between spouses, retirement account distribution rules, and whether appreciated property is sold before or after a death, not the federal estate tax. That analysis is included in the design meeting.
I already have a trust. Can you just update it?
Yes. A single change is usually an amendment; a document with several rounds of changes, or one drafted under different law, is often better restated. Bring the existing trust and any amendments to the first appointment.
Is the estate practice open to new clients?
Estate and legacy planning is handled as a longer-term advisory relationship, separately from standard tax appointments, and may require an initial review before engagement.
Correspondence
Start with the design meeting.
Bring what you own, how it is titled, and who you want in charge. The plan follows from there.
1010 Hurley Way, Suite 195 · Sacramento, California 95825
(916) 668-5525 · info@guillemaudlaw.com