California trust terms, defined

Reviewed against the California Statutes on 2026-10-06. General information, not legal advice; the official text controls.

Trust Law

Division 9 of the California Probate Code, which "shall be known and may be cited as the Trust Law" (Prob. Code §15000): creation and termination, trustees, administration, judicial proceedings, third persons, claims against a deceased settlor's revocable trust and decanting.

Settlor

The person who creates a trust — by declaring that they hold property as trustee, by transferring property to a trustee during life or at death, by exercising a power of appointment, or by an enforceable promise (Prob. Code §15200). Also called the trustor or grantor.

Trustee

The person who holds and administers the trust property. On accepting, a trustee administers the trust according to the instrument and, except as the instrument provides otherwise, according to the Trust Law (Prob. Code §16000). Guide: California Successor Trustee Duties After Death

Successor trustee

The trustee who takes over when the original trustee dies, resigns, is removed or can no longer serve. A named trustee accepts by signing the instrument or a separate written acceptance, or by knowingly exercising powers or performing duties; not accepting within a reasonable time is a rejection (Prob. Code §§15600–15601). Resignation is §15640; removal, §15642. Guide: California Successor Trustee: Accepting the Role

Beneficiary

A person to whom the trust gives an interest. The Trust Law has no general "qualified beneficiary" class for administration; each provision names its own recipients — the notification goes to each beneficiary and, after a death, each heir (Prob. Code §16061.7), and the account to the beneficiaries to whom income or principal is currently distributable (§16062).

Heir

A person who would inherit from the deceased settlor if there were no will or trust. When a death makes a trust irrevocable, the notification by trustee goes to each heir as well as each beneficiary; the trustee relies on a final judicial determination of heirship, or otherwise decides the heirs in good faith by any reasonable means (Prob. Code §16061.7(c)).

Revocable trust

A trust the settlor can revoke. A trust is revocable unless the instrument expressly makes it irrevocable, for the trusts Prob. Code §15400 describes; while a holder of the power to revoke is competent, the trustee's duties are owed to that person (§15800). Guide: The California Revocable Living Trust, Explained

Irrevocable trust

A trust that can no longer be revoked — because its terms say so, or because the settlor has died. A beneficiary, and after a death an heir, who asks receives a true and complete copy of its terms (Prob. Code §16061.5). Guide: The California Irrevocable Trust, Explained

Notification by trustee

The notice the Trust Law provides for when a settlor's death makes a trust irrevocable, or the trustee of an irrevocable trust changes: to each beneficiary and, for a death, each heir, not later than 60 days after the event, with the contents and — for a death — the boldface contest warning the section sets out (Prob. Code §16061.7). It is served, not filed. Guide: Successor Trustee After a Death in California: First Steps

Contest period

After the notification by trustee is served following a settlor's death, a recipient may not bring an action to contest the trust more than 120 days after service, or 60 days after a copy of the terms is delivered during that period, whichever is later (Prob. Code §16061.8).

Account

The trustee's report to the current beneficiaries, at least annually, at termination and on a change of trustee (Prob. Code §16062). It shows receipts and disbursements of principal and income, assets and liabilities, the trustee's compensation and agents, and the statements §16063 requires; the exceptions are §16064. Guide: California Trust Accounting Requirements

Certification of trust

An acknowledged declaration, signed by all currently acting trustees, that a trustee may present instead of the trust instrument, confirming the facts Prob. Code §18100.5 lists — the trust's existence and date, the settlors, the trustees and their powers, among others. A person who relies on it without knowing it is wrong is protected; it is not a court filing. Guide: After You Sign Your California Trust: What Happens Next

Principal place of administration

The usual place where the trustee primarily responsible for administering the trust carries on its day-to-day activity (Prob. Code §17002). Its address is part of the notification by trustee, and it sets the venue of a proceeding on a living trust (§17005).

Fiduciary duty

The obligations a trustee owes the beneficiaries — among them to administer the trust according to its terms (Prob. Code §16000), solely in the beneficiaries' interest (§16002), impartially among them (§16003), and with the care, skill and caution of a prudent person (§16040). Guide: California Successor Trustee Duties After Death

Breach of trust

A violation by the trustee of any duty owed to the beneficiary (Prob. Code §16400). The remedies include compelling performance, enjoining the breach, compelling redress and removal (§16420); a claim is barred three years after an account or report that adequately discloses it (§16460).

Cotrustee

One of two or more trustees serving together. Unless the instrument provides otherwise, a power held by cotrustees may be exercised only by their unanimous action (Prob. Code §15620).

Trustee compensation

A trustee is entitled to the compensation the instrument provides (Prob. Code §15680) or, where the instrument is silent, reasonable compensation under the circumstances (§15681). California sets no schedule for a private trustee; the probate percentages of §§10800 and 10810 belong to a personal representative and that representative's attorney. Guide: California Trustee Compensation (Prob. Code §15681)

Spendthrift provision

A provision restraining the transfer of a beneficiary's interest in income (Prob. Code §15300) or principal (§15301), so a creditor cannot reach it before payment, with the exceptions of §§15304–15307 — among them a settlor who is also a beneficiary (§15304) and support judgments (§15305).

Discretionary trust

A trust under which the trustee pays a beneficiary as much as the trustee in its discretion sees fit; a transferee or creditor of the beneficiary may not compel the trustee to pay any amount (Prob. Code §15303). Even absolute discretion is exercised under fiduciary principles (§16081).

Prudent investor rule

The investment standard for a California trustee: invest and manage trust assets as a prudent investor would, considering the trust's purposes, terms and distribution requirements, judging each decision as part of the whole portfolio (Prob. Code §16047), and review the assets within a reasonable time after accepting (§16049). Citable as the Uniform Prudent Investor Act (§16045).

Principal and income

The two accounts a trust keeps: principal is held for the remainder beneficiaries; income is what the property earns for the current beneficiaries. California allocates receipts and disbursements under the Uniform Fiduciary Income and Principal Act (Prob. Code §16320 and following, from January 1, 2024).

Notice of proposed action

An optional notice a trustee may give the beneficiaries before taking an action within its powers, stating the action, its reasons and an objection period of at least 45 days from delivery or receipt (Prob. Code §§16500, 16502).

Decanting

An authorized fiduciary's distribution of trust principal to a second trust under the Uniform Trust Decanting Act (Prob. Code §19501 and following): with expanded distributive discretion under §19511, limited discretion under §19512, and notice not later than 60 days before the exercise (§19507).

Directed trust

A trust whose terms grant a person other than the trustee — a trust director — a power over some aspect of administration (Prob. Code §§16600, 16608). A directed trustee takes reasonable action to comply with the director's direction, short of willful misconduct (§16614), and has no duty to monitor the director unless the terms say so (§16618).

Community property

Except as a statute provides otherwise, all property a married person acquires during the marriage while domiciled in California (Fam. Code §760). At a death, one-half belongs to the surviving spouse and one-half to the decedent (Prob. Code §100).

Quasi-community property

Property acquired while domiciled elsewhere that would have been community property had the owner then lived in California. At the death of a person domiciled in California, one-half belongs to the surviving spouse and one-half to the decedent (Prob. Code §101).

Separate property

A spouse's property that is not community or quasi-community property. Without a will or trust, the surviving spouse's share of the decedent's separate property depends on whether the decedent left issue, parents, or siblings and their issue (Prob. Code §6401(c)).

Per capita with representation

California's division where a statute calls for it — intestate succession among issue among them: equal shares for each living member of the nearest generation with a living member and each deceased member of that generation who left living issue, a deceased member's share divided the same way among that member's issue (Prob. Code §240). Guide: Distribution Calculator for California Trustees

Per stirpes

The division at the children's generation of the designated ancestor: one share for each living child and each deceased child who left living issue, a deceased child's share divided the same way (Prob. Code §246(a)). An instrument executed on or after January 1, 1986 that says "per stirpes", "by representation" or "by right of representation" takes this division unless it expressly provides otherwise (§246(b)). Guide: Distribution Calculator for California Trustees

Intestate succession

Who inherits property no will or trust disposes of. The surviving spouse takes the decedent's half of the community and quasi-community property and a share of the separate property (Prob. Code §6401); the rest passes to issue, then parents, then their issue and onward (§6402). Guide: Dying Without a Will in California (Intestacy)

Omitted spouse

A surviving spouse who married the decedent after all of the decedent's testamentary instruments were executed and is not provided for in them; the spouse receives the share Prob. Code §21610 describes, unless §21611 applies. California has no elective share.

Probate homestead

A homestead a court, in its discretion and on petition, may select and set apart during the administration of a probate estate (Prob. Code §6520). California places no limit on devising a home; the creditor homestead exemption is a separate article (Code Civ. Proc. §704.710 and following). Guide: The California Home After a Death

Personal representative

The executor or administrator of a probate estate, appointed by the court and issued letters. The representative — not the trustee — files the estate's inventory and appraisal within four months after letters (Prob. Code §8800) and gives notice of administration to known creditors (§9050).

Change in ownership statement

The statement filed with the county recorder or assessor when a death transfers an interest in California real property. Where the property was held in trust, the trustee files it within 150 days after the date of death (Rev. & Tax. Code §480(b)); for property in a probate estate, the personal representative files it with the inventory.

Proposition 19

The 2020 amendment to the California Constitution that, among other things, narrows the exclusion from reassessment for transfers of a family home or family farm between parents and children — and between grandparents and grandchildren whose parents are deceased — with a value limit and a requirement that the transferee use the home as a principal residence (Cal. Const. art. XIII A, §2.1; Rev. & Tax. Code §63.2). Whether it applies to a transfer is a question of the property's facts.

Medi-Cal estate recovery

The state's claim, limited to what federal law requires, against the estate of a Medi-Cal recipient (Welf. & Inst. Code §14009.5). A trustee who knows or has reason to believe the settlor, or the settlor's late spouse, received Medi-Cal gives notice of the death within 90 days (Prob. Code §§19202, 215).

Advance health care directive

California's instrument for health care decisions: an individual health care instruction (Prob. Code §4670) and a power of attorney for health care naming an agent (§4671), on the statutory form §4701 sets out or another writing. An adult may also designate a surrogate orally to the supervising health care provider (§4711). Guide: California Powers of Attorney & Advance Directives

Holographic will

A will whose signature and material provisions are in the testator's handwriting; it need not be witnessed (Prob. Code §6111). A witnessed will is signed by the testator and two witnesses present at the same time who understand it is the testator's will (§6110).

Estate tax

California imposes no estate or inheritance tax for current deaths. The federal estate tax applies on its own terms: Form 706 is due nine months after death when the gross estate exceeds the filing threshold, or to elect portability.

Employer identification number (EIN)

The federal tax identification number an irrevocable trust obtains from the IRS (Form SS-4) once it becomes a separate taxpayer; a revocable trust used the settlor's Social Security number, and that stops at death.

Schedule K-1

The federal form a trust issues to each beneficiary who received distributable income for the year, reporting the beneficiary's share of the trust's income, with the trust's Form 1041.

Portability

The federal election that lets a surviving spouse use a deceased spouse's unused estate tax exclusion; it is made on a timely federal estate tax return, Form 706, even when no tax is due.