Do I need a trust if I own a house in Los Gatos?
Almost always yes. The reason has nothing to do with how rich you feel. It is the number on your property tax bill.
The threshold that decides it
California lets an estate skip probate court if everything the person owned, added up at gross value, is under $184,500. That figure is adjusted every few years, and it has never been anywhere near a Los Gatos house. The town's median sale this year is around $2.6 million. A condo near downtown clears the threshold five times over. So the moment you own a home here, a will alone no longer keeps your family out of court.
People hear that and assume the house is the problem. It is not. The house is fine. The problem is the document that owns the house. If the deed says your name, the house passes by will, and a will is executed through probate. If the deed says the name of your trust, the house passes by the trust, and probate never opens.
What probate costs on a real house
Probate Code section 10810 sets the attorney fee as a percentage of the gross estate: four percent of the first $100,000, three percent of the next $100,000, two percent of the next $800,000 and one percent of the next nine million. Gross means before the mortgage comes off.
| Gross estate | Attorney fee | Executor fee, same schedule |
|---|---|---|
| $1,500,000 | $28,000 | $28,000 |
| $2,000,000 | $33,000 | $33,000 |
| $2,600,000 | $39,000 | $39,000 |
Add court filing fees, the probate referee, publication and certified copies, call it $2,000. Add nine to eighteen months during which nobody can sell, refinance or distribute without an order. Then compare that to a trust package at $4,200 to $6,800, signed in a month, with the house deeded in on the same day.
What a trust actually is
A revocable living trust is a document that creates a container. You are the trustee of the container while you are alive, so nothing changes day to day: same bank, same tax return, same control. You name who takes over as trustee when you die or cannot act, and who gets what. Then you move your assets into the container by retitling them, which for a house means recording a new deed. That last step is where most do-it-yourself trusts fail. The trust exists. The house was never put in it.
When a will alone is still right
If you rent, keep under $184,500 outside retirement accounts, and have no children under 18, a will plus powers of attorney is enough and costs less. If you have young kids and no house, you still need the will, because it is the only place California lets you name a guardian. The will package handles that. The moment you close on a home, come back and we convert it to a trust and credit what you paid.
The one thing to do this week
Pull your deed. The county recorder's website has it. Look at the grantee line. If it says your name and not the name of a trust, your family is going to probate whether you have a will or not. If it says a trust, check that the trust still says what you want. Either way, that is the whole first conversation, and it is the one we have at the free consult.
General information, not legal advice. Numbers are California figures for 2026 and the fee schedule is from Probate Code 10810.