The Short Version
No California law tells you how often to update a living trust. The three-to-five-year habit many attorneys suggest is a sensible backstop, nothing more. The documents go stale on events: a divorce, the death of a spouse, buying or selling land, a change in who should serve, moving property into or out of an entity, and changes in the law such as Proposition 19. Several of those events carry statutory consequences and deadlines. The attorney reviews the document. The CPA reviews the taxes. The financial adviser's job is the part nobody else does: confirming the assets are actually titled to the trust, the beneficiary forms match, the plan still fits the balance sheet, and the people named in it know what they signed up for.
The question usually arrives in this form: "We did our trust in 2011. Is it still good?" The honest answer is that nobody can tell from the date. A trust signed fifteen years ago may be entirely sound, or it may name a trustee who has since died, describe land the family sold in 2018, split into two sub-trusts at the first death for an estate tax reason that no longer exists, and assume property tax rules that California voters changed in 2020. The document did not change. Everything around it did.
This guide lays out what we have learned sitting with Central Valley families and their attorneys: why the calendar is the wrong trigger, which events are the right ones and what California law says about each, who should review which part of the plan, and what a real review actually checks. It is educational. The legal judgments belong to your attorney, and we say so throughout.
There is no statutory schedule
Nothing in the California Probate Code requires a trust to be reviewed or restated on any timetable. The consumer pamphlet on estate planning that the California Lawyers Association publishes puts the principle plainly: as people, assets, and laws change, it may be necessary to adjust the plan from time to time, and it lists family changes, meaningful changes in asset values, and fiduciaries who are no longer the right people as the reasons to look again. That is the right frame. The plan is a description of a family at a moment, and it needs revisiting when the family, the assets, or the law stop matching the description.
The three-to-five-year review that many attorneys recommend is a way of making sure the look happens at all, since families rarely notice the moment a plan goes stale. We think of it as the floor. For the families we work with, the review happens every year as part of the engagement, and separately whenever one of the events below occurs, because waiting for the next scheduled visit after a divorce or a land sale can be costly.
The events that should send you back to the attorney
Some of these are obvious. What is less obvious is that California law attaches specific consequences to several of them, and a plan that is not updated after the event is left to those default rules, which rarely match what the family would have chosen.
Divorce or annulment
Probate Code section 6122 revokes any gift to, and any nomination of, a former spouse in a will once the marriage is dissolved or annulled, unless the will says otherwise. Section 5040 applies the same rule to nonprobate transfers, which the statute defines to include trust provisions and trustee nominations, unless the transfer is irrevocable, a court order preserves it, or there is clear and convincing evidence the transferor meant to keep it. Two gaps matter. A judgment of legal separation that does not end the marriage triggers neither section. And section 5040 excludes life insurance, which is why Family Code section 2024 requires every dissolution petition to carry a notice warning that insurance beneficiary designations do not cancel automatically. The default rules are a safety net, not a plan. After a divorce the trust should be amended and every beneficiary form re-checked.
Death of a spouse
At the first death, the trust or the deceased spouse's share of it usually becomes irrevocable. Probate Code section 16061.7 requires the trustee to serve a formal notification on beneficiaries and heirs within 60 days of that event. For property tax, the Board of Equalization's Proposition 19 guidance explains that under Revenue and Taxation Code section 61(h), a change in ownership occurs when a revocable trust becomes irrevocable and interests vest in anyone other than the trustor or the trustor's spouse or registered domestic partner, and that the date of death is treated as the date of transfer. Property passing to the surviving spouse is excluded; property vesting in children at that point needs a parent-child exclusion claim filed. Then the survivor's own plan needs a fresh read: the successor roles, the distribution provisions, and any mandatory split into a survivor's trust and a bypass trust were all written for a two-person household and an estate tax exemption that may be very different from today's.
Buying, selling, or exchanging land
A trust governs only what has been titled into it. A newly purchased parcel, or the replacement property at the end of a 1031 exchange, has to be deeded to the trust or it sits outside the plan and may end up in probate. Sale proceeds landing in a new brokerage account need that account titled to the trust or carrying a designation that matches it. Property Tax Rule 462.160 treats a transfer of real property into a trust as a change in ownership unless an exclusion applies, and the exclusion that saves most families is the one for a trust in which the trustor is the sole present beneficiary, so the deed into a revocable trust needs to be done right, not just done. And if land is moved into an LLC or partnership for operating reasons, the Prop 19 family farm exclusion no longer applies to it. Each of those is a review trigger even though not a word of the trust changes.
Changes in people
The most common staleness we see is in the names. The successor trustee named in 2011 has retired to Idaho or passed away. The child who was going to farm has moved to Sacramento and the one who stayed is not named anywhere. A grandchild was born after the trust was signed and the document's language about "my children" does not do what the grandparents now assume. A beneficiary has developed a disability, or a creditor problem, or a marriage the parents worry about, and the plan hands them an outright share. None of these require a law change to matter. They require someone to read the names in the document against the family as it is now.
Changes in the law
Proposition 19 applies to transfers on or after February 16, 2021, and narrowed the parent-child property tax exclusion. A trust drafted to pass several parcels to children under the old Proposition 58 rules is still valid; the property tax result the family expected may no longer follow. The retirement account rules changed for owners dying after 2019: IRS Publication 590-B explains that most non-spouse beneficiaries must now empty an inherited IRA within ten years, and that a trust named as beneficiary is looked through to its individual beneficiaries only if it meets specific conditions. Older trusts drafted to stretch distributions over a child's lifetime may now produce a very different tax result. The federal estate tax exclusion has moved several times; for 2026 it is far above what most trusts from the 2000s were drafted around, which is why mandatory bypass trust splits in older documents are worth asking an attorney about. Our page on stepped-up basis explains why, for most farm families, the income tax basis now matters more than the estate tax.
Two more that come up: moving to California from another state, since the trust was drafted under another state's law, and a substantial change in the size of the estate in either direction, which can change whether provisions written for a smaller or larger estate still make sense.
Lawyer or financial adviser? Both, for different parts
This is the question families ask most, and the answer is not either-or. The California Attorney General's consumer guidance says an attorney qualified in estate planning should review an existing trust or will, and warns against non-lawyer trust promoters who sell documents alongside financial products (oag.ca.gov). The California Lawyers Association pamphlet makes the same caution about one-size-fits-all trust kits. We agree without reservation: the document is the attorney's, and nobody else should be interpreting it or changing it.
But a trust review that stops at the document misses most of what goes wrong. In our experience, plans fail far more often on funding, titling, beneficiary forms, and people who did not know their roles than on defective drafting. That work sits outside what most attorneys are engaged to do, and it is where a fiduciary adviser belongs.
| Who | What they review | What they do not do |
|---|---|---|
| Estate attorney | Whether the trust and companion documents are legally sound and still accomplish your intent. Successor and distribution provisions. Amendments or a restatement when something should change. Who should serve, as a legal matter. | Usually does not verify that every account and parcel was actually retitled after signing, or re-check beneficiary forms years later, unless engaged to. |
| CPA | Income tax, capital gains and basis, estate and gift tax exposure, the tax treatment of retirement accounts left to a trust, charitable provisions. | Does not draft or interpret the trust, and is rarely asked about who the successor trustee should be. |
| Financial adviser | Titling and funding of every asset against the plan. Beneficiary designations on retirement accounts and insurance. Whether the plan still fits the current balance sheet and the land. Whether the people named understand their roles. Coordination of the attorney and CPA. | Does not practice law, draft documents, or opine on legal validity. Avidity Capital does none of those things. |
One caution the Attorney General's page makes that bears repeating: an adviser who sells insurance or investment products alongside a "free" trust review has a reason to find problems that those products solve. Avidity Capital is compensated only by the flat advisory fee our clients pay us directly, sells no insurance or investment products, and receives nothing from any attorney, which is the only arrangement under which we would want to be in this role.
What a real review checks
Whoever leads it, a review that is worth the time covers the following. We keep this list because families are often told their plan was "reviewed" when one or two of these were done.
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1
Every document, together. The trust and every amendment and restatement, the pour-over will, the financial power of attorney, the advance health care directive, the certification of trust, the deeds, and the beneficiary forms, read as one plan. A missing amendment is the most common surprise.
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2
The names, against the family today. Trustees and successors in order, agents and alternates, executor, guardians if any. Are they alive, willing, able, local enough, and still the right choice?
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3
Titling and funding. Each parcel's recorded deed, each account's registration, each entity interest's assignment, checked against the trust. The trust only controls what is in it.
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4
Beneficiary designations. Retirement accounts, life insurance, annuities, transfer-on-death registrations. These pass outside the trust and override it, and they are the forms most often left unchanged after a divorce or a death.
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5
Distribution against intent. Does the plan still divide the estate the way the family means it to, given the land they own now, the children's circumstances now, and the property tax and income tax rules now?
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6
Incapacity provisions. How incapacity is determined, who steps in, and whether the health care directive and HIPAA authorizations are current and in the hands of the people who would need them.
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7
Whether the people named know. The last check, and the one most often skipped. A successor trustee who has never seen the plan will administer it by reading it for the first time during grief.
How we handle it for our families
For every family in our Legacy Land Advisory engagement, the plan is read in full at the start and restated in a printed, plain-English Estate Plan Review the family can share with their children and the people they named. Every annual meeting after that includes the checklist above against whatever changed during the year: land bought or sold, accounts opened, a marriage, a birth, a new law. When something needs the attorney, we write down the exact questions, go to the meeting with the family, and update the review when the documents are amended. We do not draft, interpret, or opine on the legal documents; we make sure the right questions reach the right professional at the right time, and that the family understands the answers.
If you are not a client and simply want to know whether your own plan is overdue for a look, our nine-question checkup will tell you in about three minutes which of the items above you cannot answer. Those are the ones to bring to your attorney.
Legacy Land Advisory
Not sure whether your plan still matches your family?
A confidential, no-cost first conversation. Bring the year your trust was signed and whatever has changed since. We will tell you plainly which items belong in front of your attorney, in what order, and whether our engagement is a fit.
Working with a family as their attorney or CPA? Start here.
Common Questions
Updating a California Trust:
What Families Ask
How often should I update my living trust in California?
No California statute sets a schedule. Many estate attorneys suggest a review every three to five years as a habit, and that is a reasonable backstop, but the documents go stale on events, not on a calendar. A divorce, the death of a spouse, buying or selling land, a change in who should serve as trustee or agent, moving property into or out of an LLC or trust, and changes in property tax or estate tax law are each a reason to have the plan read again now rather than at the next scheduled review.
Does my trust automatically update when I get divorced?
Partly, and relying on that is a mistake. California Probate Code section 6122 revokes gifts to, and nominations of, a former spouse in a will once the marriage is dissolved or annulled, and section 5040 does the same for most nonprobate transfers, including trust provisions and trustee nominations, unless an exception applies. Two gaps matter: a legal separation that does not end the marriage triggers neither rule, and life insurance beneficiary designations are excluded from section 5040, which is why the notice required by Family Code section 2024 in every dissolution petition says they do not cancel automatically. After a divorce the trust should be amended and every beneficiary form re-checked, not left to the default rules.
What happens to my trust when my spouse dies?
Three things, on a clock. The trust, or the deceased spouse's share of it, usually becomes irrevocable, and under Probate Code section 16061.7 the trustee must send a formal notification to beneficiaries and heirs within 60 days. For property tax, the Board of Equalization explains that under Revenue and Taxation Code section 61(h) a change in ownership occurs when a revocable trust becomes irrevocable and interests vest in someone other than the trustor or the trustor's spouse, with the date of death treated as the date of transfer, so any parent-child exclusion claim has to be filed. And the surviving spouse's own plan now needs a review, because the trust was drafted for two people and the successor roles, distribution provisions, and any mandatory bypass trust split were written for a different situation.
Do I need to update my trust after buying or selling farmland?
Usually the trust document itself does not change, but the plan does. A newly purchased parcel, or replacement property from a 1031 exchange, has to be deeded to the trust or it is not governed by it. Sale proceeds landing in a new account need that account titled to the trust. If land is moved into an LLC or partnership for operating reasons, the Prop 19 family farm exclusion no longer applies to it, and the trust's distribution provisions may now describe land the family no longer owns. The attorney confirms the legal side; the funding and titling work is where a financial adviser earns a place in the review.
Did Prop 19 make my older trust out of date?
It may have changed what the trust accomplishes without changing a word of it. Proposition 19 applies to transfers on or after February 16, 2021, and narrowed the parent-child property tax exclusion that many older plans assumed. A trust drafted in 2010 to pass several parcels to children without reassessment was drafted under Proposition 58 rules that no longer apply at the trustor's death. The document is still valid; the property tax result the family expected may not be. That is a review question for the attorney and, for the parcel-by-parcel math, our Prop 19 family farm page.
Should a lawyer or a financial adviser review my trust?
The lawyer reviews the document; that is not optional. Only an attorney can tell you whether the trust is legally sound, whether it still does what you intend, and how to amend it. The California Attorney General's consumer guidance says an attorney qualified in estate planning should review an existing trust, and warns against non-lawyer trust promoters. A CPA reviews the tax consequences. A financial adviser's part is the piece attorneys rarely do: confirming that every asset is actually titled to the trust, that beneficiary designations match the plan, that the plan still fits the family's current balance sheet, and that the people named in it understand their roles. Avidity Capital does the third job for its client families and attends the attorney meeting with them.
Sources, verified October 2026
California Probate Code section 6122 (revocation of will provisions for a former spouse), section 5040 (nonprobate transfers to a former spouse), and section 16061.7 (trustee notification within 60 days). California Family Code section 2024 (dissolution notice). California Code of Regulations, Title 18, Rule 462.160 (change in ownership, trusts). Board of Equalization, Proposition 19 guidance on trusts and date of death. IRS Publication 590-B (2025), the 10-year rule and trusts as beneficiaries. California Attorney General, Living Trust Scams. California Lawyers Association consumer pamphlet, Do I Need Estate Planning? Statute text was checked against the versions current as of January 1, 2026. Laws change; confirm with your attorney before acting.
Important Disclosures
This guide is educational and expresses the firm's opinions; it does not constitute legal, tax, or investment advice. Whether and how a trust should be amended is a legal question that requires a qualified estate attorney. Statutes and regulations are summarized in plain language and may have exceptions or conditions not described here. Avidity Capital Inc. does not practice law or draft estate planning documents.
Regulatory Disclosure: Avidity Capital Inc. is a California state-registered investment adviser (CRD# 312745). Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. For firm background information, visit adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/312745.
No Commission Disclosure: Avidity Capital Inc. is compensated solely by advisory fees paid directly by clients. The firm does not receive commissions, referral fees, or revenue-sharing payments from sponsors, issuers, product providers, attorneys, or trustees.