Wills & Trusts
Will and Trust Document Reviews in Los Angeles County and Orange County
Your own trust, one from an online service, or one a trustee just mailed you: Fred reads every page and tells you what it actually does before it costs anyone.
- Two witnesses present together, or a will fails the formalities (Prob. Code §6110)
- A home still deeded in your own name goes through probate, trust or not
- Retirement and life insurance forms override the trust; we check every one
- Trust contests run 120 days from the trustee's notice (Prob. Code §16061.8)
Estate documents get reviewed for one of three reasons: your life changed, the law changed, or someone died and the papers are now in force. Fred Yadegar provides will and trust document reviews for people in Los Angeles County and Orange County in all three situations, whether the documents are yours, were drafted by another attorney or an online service, or arrived in the mail from a trustee. The review answers a plain question: does this do what everyone thinks it does?
Three reasons a plan gets a second look
Your life changed. A marriage, a divorce, a birth, a death, a new property, or a move. The trust still names the people and the property from the year it was signed.
The law changed. The small-estate thresholds moved on April 1, 2025: $208,850 for personal property by affidavit (Prob. Code §13100) and $750,000 for a primary residence by petition (§13150 et seq.; AB 2016). A plan written around older numbers may be more complicated than it needs to be, or may leave a home exposed to full probate.
Someone died. A trust becomes operative at the settlor’s death, the trustee acquires duties with deadlines attached, and beneficiaries acquire rights. That is when the wording is finally tested.
The checklist we run on an existing plan
- Execution. A formal will needs two witnesses present at the same time (Prob. Code §6110); a handwritten will needs the material terms and the signature in the testator’s own hand (§6111). A trust needs a named trustee and identifiable beneficiaries.
- Funding. We pull the recorded deed. If the home is still in your individual name, the trust does nothing for it, and the estate is headed for probate with fees on the gross value (Prob. Code §10810).
- Beneficiary designations. Retirement accounts and life insurance pay whoever the custodian’s form names, regardless of the trust. We compare every form against the plan.
- Amendments. Each one must be made the way the trust allows. An unsigned draft or a handwritten note on the original can leave the old terms in force. Once amendments start to pile up, a restatement is the cleaner course.
- The supporting documents. A durable power of attorney and an Advance Health Care Directive (Prob. Code §4600 et seq.) should exist, name living people, and match the trust.
- Internal conflicts. The will, the trust, and the beneficiary forms should tell the same story. When they do not, the argument happens after you are gone.
When the document is one you were handed
If you are the successor trustee
Accepting the role makes you a fiduciary. The duties are loyalty, impartiality, prudent investment, and avoiding conflicts (Prob. Code §16000–16015), plus an accounting to current beneficiaries at least annually (§16062). The trustee must send the notification required by §16061.7 after the settlor’s death, and that notice starts a 120-day contest period, or 60 days after a beneficiary receives the trust terms if that is later (§16061.8). We read the trust with you, prepare the notice, and map out what has to happen before any distribution.
If you are a beneficiary or an heir
You are entitled to know what the trust says and how it is being administered. The review checks whether you received the complete document with every amendment, when the §16061.7 notice was served and when your window closes, and whether the written terms line up with what the settlor said over the years. If the answers are troubling, the next step is a written request to the trustee, and after that a petition under §17200. That work is described under enforcing trusts and wills.
Call now: If a trustee’s notice has arrived, write down the date you received it before you do anything else. The contest period is counted from service, and we can tell you exactly when it ends.
Signs a document was not freely made
Undue influence, as the statute defines it, is persuasion so excessive that it overcomes the person’s free will and leads to an inequitable result (Welf. & Inst. Code §15610.70, adopted in Prob. Code §86). The pattern is familiar: an amendment signed late in life that shifts the estate to one person; a caregiver hired recently, a late-life spouse, or the one child who managed the parent’s calendar; documents signed during a hospital stay or after a diagnosis affecting memory; the new beneficiary choosing the lawyer and sitting in on the signing; other family members kept away in the months before the change. None of these alone proves anything, and several together deserve a hard look. A review of the documents, the drafting file, and the timeline tells you whether there is a case, and the 120-day clock tells you how long you have to bring it.
What to gather before the review
- Every version of the will and trust, with all amendments and any restatement
- The current recorded deed for each property
- The designation form on file for each retirement plan, insurance policy, and pay-on-death account
- Any notice, letter, or accounting a trustee has sent, and the date it arrived
- The name of the drafting attorney or the online service that was used
- Hold off on signing any receipt, waiver, or release a trustee sends until the trust has been read for you
Why Fred should be the one reading it
Fred Yadegar is a California attorney, State Bar #244184, licensed since 2006, and he reviews estate documents for owners, trustees, and beneficiaries throughout Los Angeles County and Orange County. He also drafts these plans and litigates over them, so he reads a trust the way a judge eventually will. You leave the review knowing what the documents do, what they fail to do, and what fixing them involves, before any of it turns into a court filing. Tell us what’s going on and we’ll explain your options and costs before you commit to anything.
Written and reviewed by Fred Yadegar, California attorney, State Bar #244184, licensed since 2006.
Questions about document reviews
The law changes even when your family does not. The small-estate limits moved on April 1, 2025, beneficiary forms drift out of line with the trust, and named agents move away or die. A periodic reading catches those before a death makes them permanent.
It is the notification a trustee must send after the settlor dies (Prob. Code §16061.7). It matters because it starts your time to contest the trust: 120 days from service, or 60 days after you receive the trust terms, whichever is later (§16061.8). Write down the date it arrived.
Yes. The review covers how the documents were signed, whether the house and accounts were actually moved into the trust, whether beneficiary forms agree with it, and whether the amendments were made the way the trust allows. You get a plain answer about what works and what needs fixing.
An amendment changes specific provisions and leaves the rest of the original in force. A restatement rewrites the entire trust under the original name and date, so there is one document to read. After several amendments, a restatement is usually the cleaner course.
Wait. Distributing before the contest period under §16061.8 has closed, or before debts and expenses are known, exposes you personally. Read the trust with counsel, send the required notice, and keep records that will support the accounting beneficiaries are entitled to (§16062).
Ask for the complete trust and every amendment, note when the trustee's notice was served, and gather what you know about the timing of the change. If the document was produced under pressure late in life, the statutory definition of undue influence (Welf. & Inst. Code §15610.70) may apply, and the 120-day clock is running.
Not certain what your documents do? Have Fred read them.
Tell us what's going on and we'll explain your options and costs before you commit to anything.
Contingency fee applies to injury and surplus-funds matters. Costs may be advanced and repaid from any recovery; ask us how it works in your case.