信托与遗产传承
Trust & Estate Planning
In California, assets not held in a trust at death usually go through probate, a court-supervised process that is public, slow, and carries statutory attorney and executor fees based on the value of the estate. We work with partner attorneys to put living trusts and wills in place, and your planner brings estate tax, cross-border assets and each child’s circumstances into a single legacy plan.
FAQ
Questions families ask
Do I need a will or a trust?
A will says who receives what, but in California, assets above the small-estate threshold still go through probate, where the court oversees inventory, debts and distribution on the public record. A revocable living trust, which you can change at any time and usually manage yourself as trustee, generally avoids probate as long as your home and accounts are actually retitled into it. For families who own a home in California, we usually recommend both: the trust holds and distributes assets, and the will names guardians for minor children and sweeps anything left outside into the trust.
What is the estate tax exemption in 2026, and should we be concerned?
Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed in July 2025, the federal exemption for U.S. citizens and green card holders is $15 million per person starting in 2026, indexed for inflation after that, with a top rate of 40% above it; California currently has no state estate tax. A married couple can use up to $30 million combined if the surviving spouse elects portability when the first spouse dies. Well below that level, federal estate tax is usually not the focus and the plan centers on avoiding probate, providing for children and reducing income tax; close to it, or with family members who are not U.S. persons, the plan needs more detail.
My parents live in China and bought a U.S. home in their own names. Is that a problem?
A person who is neither a U.S. citizen nor a U.S. resident has only a $60,000 estate tax exemption on U.S. real estate and U.S. stocks (IRC §2102), with the excess taxed at rates up to 40%. Whether the home is held by the parents, the children, a trust or a company can therefore change the outcome dramatically, and changing ownership after the fact can itself raise gift tax and tax questions in both countries. This is best settled before buying, or as early as possible, with the partner attorney and CPA.
My spouse is not a U.S. citizen. How does that change the plan?
Transfers to a surviving spouse who is a U.S. citizen generally qualify for the unlimited marital deduction and pass free of estate tax. If the surviving spouse is not a citizen, even with a green card, that deduction generally does not apply unless the assets pass to a qualified domestic trust (QDOT). Lifetime gifts are capped as well: for 2026 the annual exclusion for gifts to a non-citizen spouse is $194,000, so the trust terms and titling for mixed-citizenship couples have to be designed around these rules.
Who manages the trust once it’s set up? Does MMG act as trustee?
With a revocable living trust, you are usually your own trustee (the person who manages the assets under the trust’s terms) during your lifetime; at death or incapacity, the successor trustee you named takes over, whether a family member, a trusted friend or a professional trust company. MMG does not serve as trustee. Our role is to help you decide who is best suited, what information they will need, and to work with the partner attorney to make sure assets are properly retitled into the trust.
