Are you looking for an estate planning lawyer in Los Angeles, CA?
At The Werner Law Firm, PC, we are trusted estate planning lawyers with five decades of experience serving families across Los Angeles.
If you are ready to put a plan in place for your family and your property, an estate planning attorney can help you get it right. Our Los Angeles, CA estate planning lawyer can prepare the documents that protect your wishes, from wills and trusts to powers of attorney. The Werner Law Firm, PC has served California families since 1975, and our founder brings fifty years of practice to this work. Your first consultation is free, and it comes with no obligation.
Estate planning is the process of deciding what happens to your property, your health care, and your dependents if you become incapacitated or die. A complete plan usually combines several documents, each with its own job. Together they give your family clear instructions and legal authority at the moments they need them most.
Estate planning is not only for the wealthy or the elderly. A homeowner with a single property, a parent of young children, and a business owner all benefit from a plan. Without one, California's default rules decide who inherits your assets and who acts on your behalf. An estate planning attorney in Los Angeles helps you replace those defaults with choices that are genuinely your own. The goal is not paperwork for its own sake. It is making sure the people you care about are provided for and spared avoidable conflict and expense.
Estate planning covers more than one document, and most plans draw on several. The right mix depends on your family, your assets, and your goals. These are the estate planning services our Los Angeles attorneys handle most often.
Wills. A will names your beneficiaries, an executor, and a guardian for minor children. It is the foundation of most plans, and even a modest estate benefits from having one in place.
Living trusts. A living trust passes your assets to your beneficiaries without probate and keeps your affairs private.
Special needs trusts. These provide for a loved one with a disability without putting their public benefits at risk.
Powers of attorney. A power of attorney lets someone you trust manage your finances if you become unable to.
Advance health care directives. An advance health care directive records your medical wishes and names an agent to speak for you.
Probate. When an estate goes through probate, we guide the personal representative through the court process and the filings it requires.
Trust administration. After a death, we advise trustees through the trust administration process and the deadlines that come with it.
An estate plan touches your family for years after it is signed. We build each one with the care that longevity deserves.
The Werner Law Firm, PC has guided California families through wills, trusts, and probate since 1975, with offices across Southern California, including Los Angeles. We also provide services in English and Spanish. Our founder, L. Rob Werner, has practiced for fifty years and holds a Readers' Choice Award for Best Attorney from the Los Angeles Daily News, along with membership in the Los Angeles County Bar Association. Our managing attorney, Troy Werner, brings 17 years of practice and admission in both California and Texas. As an estate planning lawyer in Los Angeles, CA, our firm understands how local families think about property, family, and legacy. Across those decades, we have helped families with plans of every size, from a single will to layered trusts, and we bring that range to each new matter.
Much of our work comes from clients we have helped before and the people they refer to us. Every plan begins with a free consultation and a clear explanation of what it will involve.
An estate plan is a set of instructions and legal authorities that work together. Some documents take effect while you are alive, and others only after you pass. Knowing what each one does helps you decide what your family actually needs. A plan does not have to be elaborate to be effective. For many families, a will, a trust, and a couple of health and financial documents cover most of what matters.
Most estate plans in California are built from a handful of core documents, and each has a specific role.
Will. Directs who inherits your property and names guardians for minor children.
Living trust. Holds your assets so they pass to beneficiaries without probate.
Durable power of attorney. Lets a trusted person handle your finances if you cannot.
Advance health care directive. Records your medical wishes and names a health care agent. You can file one with the state's advance directive registry so providers can locate it.
Beneficiary designations. Pass accounts like retirement plans and life insurance directly to named people.
Knowing which of these estate planning documents you need is the first step toward a plan that fits. A trust is often the centerpiece, though not every plan calls for one. Which documents you need depends on what you own, whom you want to provide for, and what you want to happen if you cannot speak for yourself.
A good plan reflects your real circumstances, not a template. The best plan for a young family with small children looks different from the best plan for a retiree or a business owner. A few things deserve attention from the start.
How your property is titled, since joint accounts and beneficiary forms can override a will.
Who you trust to serve as executor, trustee, or agent.
Whether a loved one has special circumstances, such as a disability or a share in a family business.
What should happen if you become incapacitated, not only what happens at death.
When no plan exists, state law steps in and decides these questions for you. You can read what happens when someone dies without a will to see why that outcome rarely matches what families would have chosen.
Most plans come together within a few weeks, though the right pace depends on your situation.
An initial consultation to discuss your family, your assets, and your goals.
A review of your property and how each asset is titled.
Drafting of your documents, followed by a chance to review them and ask questions.
A signing appointment where your documents are notarized and witnessed.
Funding any trust, which means transferring your assets into it.
Planning for incapacity planning is part of this process from the beginning, because a sound plan protects you while you are alive as well as after you are gone. We will give you a realistic timeline at the first meeting, once we understand what your plan involves.
Bringing a few items helps us give you useful guidance from the first meeting.
A list of your major assets, including real estate, financial accounts, and business interests.
Any existing will, trust, or power of attorney you have already signed.
The names of the people you may want as beneficiaries, guardians, or agents.
You don't need everything in hand to begin. We can start with what you have and identify what is missing as we go. We would rather you begin the conversation than wait for the perfect moment. Even a first meeting usually brings real clarity about which documents your situation calls for.
Estate planning is governed by California law, and several public resources can help you understand your options before or after you meet with an attorney. The following are good places to start.
The California Courts self-help guide on wills and estates explains planning and probate.
The same guide offers sample legal documents, including a statutory will and power of attorney.
The full California Probate Code is published by the state for those who want the statutes themselves.
These resources offer general information, not advice about your own estate and family.
A clear estate plan gives your family direction and protects the people and things you care about. We would be glad to walk you through your options and answer whatever questions come up along the way. Your first consultation is free, with no pressure to decide on the spot. Contact us to get started.
Most people picture an estate plan as something that matters after they die. In Los Angeles, the more common emergency arrives while everyone is still alive. A stroke or a dementia diagnosis can leave a family with no legal authority to pay a mortgage or approve a treatment. When that happens and no power of attorney exists, the only remaining path runs through the probate court. Relatives have to petition for a conservatorship. That process takes months, and it puts private family decisions in front of a judge who has never met anyone involved.
The court those families land in is the busiest trial court in the country. Every probate and conservatorship petition in Los Angeles County is filed downtown at one courthouse, no matter which neighborhood the family lives in. Volume like that sets the pace, and the pace is not quick. Our Los Angeles estate planning lawyers treat that as the starting assumption. The plan worth building is the one that never needs the courthouse at all.
Judicial Council caseload data shows:
The Los Angeles Superior Court operates with 510 authorized judgeships, more than any other trial court in the United States.
That is roughly 29 percent of the 1,781 authorized superior court judgeships in California, concentrated in one county.
California superior courts took in 66,908 probate filings in fiscal year 2024-25.
Probate was one of several case categories where filings climbed more than 7 percent that year.
Who will actually draft my documents? Some offices hand the drafting to a paralegal and route questions through staff. Ask who writes the language and who you'll talk to when something doesn't make sense. The answer tells you how the office will treat you in three years, when you call about a document you barely remember signing.
Are you certified in this area of law? Any licensed attorney can prepare a will. The State Bar certifies a smaller group as specialists in estate planning, trust, and probate law. That certification requires a separate exam, plus a review by other lawyers and judges.
How do you handle incapacity, not just death? A plan that only speaks after you die leaves your family exposed for the years before that. Ask how the lawyer approaches a durable power of attorney and what happens if you can no longer sign. Incapacity is the more likely scenario for most Los Angeles estate planning clients, and it's the one people skip.
Will you help fund my trust? Funding means retitling accounts and recording deeds so the trust actually controls your property. Plenty of offices draft the trust and leave the funding to you. That gap is where plans fail. An unfunded trust looks complete in the binder while the house still passes through probate.
What does the quoted price include? Ask what's covered and what triggers an additional charge. Amendments, deed preparation, and trust funding are the usual places a flat fee stops. You want to know that before you sign, not after.
What happens when my life changes? Marriages, births, sales, and moves all reshape a plan. There are reasons to revisit documents you signed years ago, and a good lawyer will tell you which ones apply to you.
What if I own property outside California? Real estate in another state can trigger a second probate where that property sits. Ask whether a trust for multi-state owners makes sense for your situation. The same question applies to property abroad, which many Los Angeles families own.
How do I reach you after everything is signed? Estate planning isn't a one-time transaction. You'll have questions in five years, and your family will have questions after that. Find out now whether you'll be able to reach the person who wrote your plan.
Price follows complexity. One home and two adult children is straightforward work. A rental in another county, a small business, and a beneficiary who receives public benefits is not. We give you a flat figure at the consultation so you can decide with real numbers in front of you. Nothing starts until you say yes.
No. We keep offices around Southern California, including Los Angeles, and we also sign documents at kitchen tables when that's easier. Older clients and clients recovering from surgery often can't make the drive across the county. That shouldn't be the reason a plan never gets signed. It's also how we handle planning for elderly parents when an adult child is coordinating from out of town.
Usually, yes. A will that was properly executed where you signed it is generally honored in California. That said, "valid" and "effective" aren't the same thing. Out-of-state documents often name an executor who now lives two time zones away, or rely on a trust structure that doesn't fit California property rules. It's worth asking whether your will is still valid in practice, not just on paper.
Once someone can no longer understand what they're signing, the window for a power of attorney has closed. At that point the family usually has to ask the court to appoint a conservator. It's slower and more public than planning would have been. We can walk you through what a conservatorship in California involves and whether a less restrictive option still exists.
Distance matters more than people expect. An agent in another state can handle finances remotely, but a health care agent may need to be in the room. Many Los Angeles families name one person for medical decisions and another for money. A springing power of attorney is one option when you'd rather the authority stay dormant until it's needed.
Every three to five years is a reasonable rhythm, and sooner after any major change. Deaths, divorces, new grandchildren, and property sales all matter. So does moving, and so does a change in who you'd trust as executor of your estate. Beneficiary forms deserve their own look, since a retirement account or life insurance policy pays whoever is named on the form no matter what your will says. We'd rather update a plan than watch a family discover the problem at the worst possible moment.
Yes. Non-citizens who own property here face a different set of questions, particularly around transfers to a non-citizen spouse. Foreign assets and heirs abroad add their own wrinkles. Planning for non-citizens with U.S. assets takes more care than a standard plan, and it's work we do regularly.
Every probate and conservatorship matter in the county is heard downtown. There's no branch alternative and no way to file closer to home. Filings go to the probate department at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse at 111 N. Hill Street. The probate department can be reached at (213) 830-0850, and records requests go to (213) 830-0803. Hearings run on a calendar that books out further than most people expect, and a single continuance can add weeks. Understanding that timeline is usually what moves people to finish documents they have been putting off for years.
Estate planning in Los Angeles tends to overlap with caregiving, medical decisions, and property records. These local organizations come up often in that overlap.
Department of Aging: 221 N. Figueroa St., Suite 500, runs programs for city residents over 60 and their caregivers. (213) 482-7252
Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk: records the deed when a home is transferred into a trust and maintains the county's real property records. (800) 201-8999
We don't endorse, sponsor, or have any affiliation with the organizations above. They're listed as a convenience for Los Angeles residents, and their contact details can change without notice.
Los Angeles County covers more than 4,000 square miles, and getting across it is often the hardest part of a client's day. We keep ten offices around the state so that meetings stay local, and we sign documents at clients' homes when travel isn't realistic. Our managing attorney, Troy Werner, holds the State Bar's certified specialist designation in Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Law. He earned his bachelor's degree at the University of Pennsylvania and his law degree through Southwestern Law School's accelerated SCALE program. You are welcome at our Los Angeles office, or we can come to you.
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"Estate planning can be emotional, difficult and open ideas that never want to be opened. Werner helped me and my mom navigate and ensure our family is taken care of taking a load off of her and our family's back. The best part is that they came to the house and explained everything to her and reviewed multiple times to ensure accuracy. Thank you Werner!" — Anderson Michael
Read more reviews on our Google Business Profile.
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The families who call us are rarely looking for paperwork. They want to know their parents are covered and their kids won't be left guessing. Our Los Angeles estate planning lawyers will look at what you own, ask who you trust, and tell you which documents your situation actually requires it. There's no charge for that first conversation and no expectation that you hire us. Contact us and we'll find a time that works for you.
The information on this website is for general information purposes only. Nothing on this site should be taken as legal advice for any individual case or situation. This information is not intended to create, and receipt or viewing does not constitute, an attorney-client relationship! See full disclaimer here.
