If you wish to have a say in how your assets are distributed — and to be sure the people you love are taken care of when you are gone — creating a will is an essential part of estate planning. Don’t assume a judge will abide by your wishes if the matter goes to court.
What a will actually does
A will is a written instruction for what happens to your property after your death. In California it also lets you name a guardian for minor children and an executor to carry the plan out. Without one, the state’s intestate succession rules decide who inherits — and those rules will not account for a partner you never married, a friend, a business co-founder, or a charity you cared about.
The formal requirements in California
California has specific rules a will must satisfy to be valid. In broad terms:
- Capacity. You must be at least 18 and of sound mind — you understand what you own, who your relatives are, and what the document does.
- Writing. The will must be in writing. California recognises handwritten (holographic) wills where the material provisions and signature are in your own hand, but they invite disputes.
- Signature. You must sign the will, or direct someone to sign it in your presence and at your direction.
- Witnesses. A typed will must be signed by at least two witnesses, present at the same time, who understood the document to be your will. A witness who also inherits can create a presumption of undue influence.
What a will does not do
This is the part that surprises people. A will does not avoid probate — it directs it. Assets that pass by beneficiary designation or joint title, such as retirement accounts, life insurance and jointly held property, pass outside the will entirely. If those designations are stale, they override the document you just signed.
For many clients the right answer is a will and a revocable living trust: the trust keeps assets out of probate and private, and a pour-over will catches anything left behind.
Common mistakes we see
- Naming an executor without asking them first.
- Leaving specific property that has already been sold.
- Never updating after a marriage, divorce, birth or move to another state.
- Storing the only signed original somewhere no one can find it.
- Treating a form downloaded online as finished work.
When to revisit it
Review the plan after any major life change — marriage, divorce, a child, a death in the family, buying property, starting or selling a business, or a significant change in assets. Absent those, a read-through every three to five years is reasonable.
Where to start
Make a list of what you own and who you want to receive it. Decide who should serve as executor and, if you have minor children, as guardian. Then have counsel put it into a form that will hold up. Estate planning goes well beyond a simple will, and knowing where to begin is the hardest part — which is exactly what the first conversation is for.