Checklist for Will Planning: What Parents in California and Washington Need

By Kevin Luu, Co-Founder and Chief Learning Officer. Reviewed on 2026-09-30.

A checklist for will planning, for parents of young children, has seven items: name a guardian for the kids, decide who controls the money you leave them and until what age, pick an executor, list every asset and how it is titled, line up beneficiary designations, decide whether a will alone is enough or you need a revocable trust, and sign it correctly under your state’s rules. For a California or Washington household earning $750k or more, the items that usually carry the most weight are the fifth and sixth: a will by itself often sends a large estate through probate, while retirement accounts and life insurance skip the will entirely.

Below is the checklist in the order an estate attorney will ask about it, with a worked California example and the Washington differences that matter.

Why a will alone rarely covers a high-income family

A will controls only assets titled in your individual name with no beneficiary named. For a typical two-physician or big-tech household, that is a shrinking share of the balance sheet. The 401(k), the IRA, the group life policy through work, and often a brokerage account with a transfer-on-death designation all pass by contract, not by will. The house, a brokerage account with no transfer-on-death designation, and personal property usually do not. A home or joint account held with survivorship rights passes to the surviving spouse outside the will, but once the second parent dies, it falls back under the will.

That split creates two problems. First, the assets that do go through the will may need a court probate. Second, the assets that skip the will can land outright with a 19-year-old if the beneficiary form names the child directly. The checklist exists to close both gaps.

The will-planning checklist for parents in California and Washington

1. Guardian of the person. Name who raises your children if both parents die, plus one alternate. In California, a parent may nominate a guardian of the person, the estate, or both (Cal. Probate Code §1500). A court still approves the appointment, but a clear nomination carries heavy weight. Both parents should name the same person.
2. Who manages the money, and until when. The guardian who raises the kids does not have to be the person who controls a multimillion-dollar inheritance. Many families split the roles: a sibling as guardian, a financially steady friend or a professional as trustee.
3. Executor (and alternate). This person gathers assets, pays debts and taxes, and distributes what is left. Pick someone organized who lives in or near your state. See whether a financial adviser can serve as executor.
4. Asset inventory with titling. For each account, record who owns it (individual, joint, community property, trust) and whether a beneficiary is named. Include equity compensation: unvested RSUs and options are governed by your employer’s plan document, which says whether they vest, lapse or can be exercised by your estate at death.
5. Beneficiary designations. Check every 401(k), IRA, HSA, life policy and transfer-on-death account. These forms override the will. If a minor child is named directly, a court may have to appoint someone to manage the money. Naming a trust for the children is usually cleaner; here is how to name a trust as beneficiary of a brokerage account.
6. Will only, or revocable trust plus pour-over will. In California especially, the answer for a family that owns a home is often the trust. The worked example below shows why.
7. Signing formalities. California requires a written will signed by you and by at least two witnesses who are present at the same time and understand it is your will (Cal. Probate Code §6110). Washington requires a written, signed will attested by two or more competent witnesses, and allows signing with witnesses present electronically (RCW 11.12.020).

Worked example: what probate can cost a California family

Assumptions (illustrative): a Bay Area couple, one a Genentech scientist and one a physician, household income $1.1M, two children ages 4 and 7. They signed simple wills years ago and never funded a trust. One parent dies and everything passes to the other outside probate; the surviving parent dies a year later without updating anything, so the whole estate below is probated once, in the survivor’s name. Their home appraises at $2.8M with a $1.4M mortgage. A joint brokerage account holds $600k. The survivor’s 401(k) and life insurance name the deceased spouse, then the estate.

California sets a statutory fee for the executor and, separately, the same schedule for the executor’s attorney: 4% of the first $100,000, 3% of the next $100,000, 2% of the next $800,000, and 1% of the next $9,000,000 (§10800, §10810). The fee base is the appraised value of the estate “without reference to encumbrances,” so the mortgage is not subtracted.

That is before court costs, appraisal and any extraordinary fees, and the process is public and typically takes many months. Because the 401(k) and insurance named “the estate” as the backup beneficiary, they could also be pulled into probate, which would raise the fee base above the $3,400,000 shown, and lose the option to name the children’s trust directly. A funded revocable trust holding the home and brokerage account, with the trust named as contingent beneficiary on the 401(k)s and insurance, generally keeps those assets out of court. A family member serving as executor can waive the fee; the attorney usually will not.

How Washington changes the checklist

Washington probate is generally simpler and has no statutory percentage fee schedule, so the case for a trust there rests more on privacy, incapacity planning and managing money for minors than on probate cost. The bigger Washington item is estate tax. The state exclusion is $3,000,000 for deaths from July 1 through December 31, 2026 ($3,076,000 for deaths January 1 through June 30, 2026), with rates from 10% to 20% for deaths on or after July 1, 2026 (WA DOR estate tax tables). A Seattle couple with a $2.2M home, $1.5M in brokerage accounts and $1.8M in retirement accounts is well over that line, and the value of life insurance they own can count too. Their checklist should add a question for the attorney: should each spouse’s plan include a credit shelter (bypass) trust?

At the federal level, the basic exclusion is $15,000,000 per person for 2026 (IRS). The often repeated claim that it drops to about $7 million in 2026 is obsolete; current law made the higher amount permanent and indexes it from 2027. Most families in our range will not owe federal estate tax, but Washington families can owe state tax well below the federal line.

Money for minors: trust or UTMA custodianship

If your will leaves assets to a child through a custodianship, the child takes full control young. In California, a transfer made under a will or trust can delay custodianship only to age 25 at the latest, and the age must be written into the document (Cal. Probate Code §3920.5). In Washington, a transfer authorized by will or trust ends at 21 unless the document extends it, up to 25, in the initial nomination of the custodian (RCW 11.114.200). For what happens at that point, see what happens to a UTMA at the age of majority.

A trust for the children lets you set staged distributions (for example, a third at 25, 30 and 35), pay for school and health along the way, and name a trustee who is not the guardian. For a $3M-plus inheritance, many families choose the trust.

Common mistakes on a will-planning checklist

• Signing a will but never retitling the house into the trust, so the trust holds nothing.
• Naming minor children directly on a 401(k) or life insurance beneficiary form.
• Choosing guardians who would need to move the children across the country without discussing it with them first.
• Relying on a handwritten will. California accepts one if the signature and material provisions are in your handwriting (§6111), but it rarely handles guardianship, trusts and tax planning well.
• Never reviewing the plan after a new child, a move between states, a job change with new equity grants, or a large liquidity event.

What to document for your children

A will says who gets what. It does not say why. Alongside the legal documents, write a one-page letter to the guardian and trustee: what you want the money used for, what you hope the kids learn about work and giving, and how you would have decided a hard request at age 22. Store it with the plan and update it when you review the documents. As Kevin Luu puts it: “Your kids will inherit your money. Will they inherit your judgment?” Our family governance work is built around capturing exactly that kind of reasoning.

Frequently asked questions

Can I write my own will without a lawyer in California or Washington?

Yes. Both states accept a self-drafted will if it meets the signing rules, and California also accepts a properly handwritten will. For a family with young children, a home and equity compensation, a do-it-yourself will usually misses the pieces that matter most: a trust for the kids, coordinated beneficiary forms and, in Washington, estate tax planning.

How often should parents review a will?

Review it every few years and after any major event: a birth, a death or divorce among your named guardians or trustees, a move to or from California or Washington, a new employer with different equity plans, or a large vest or sale. Check beneficiary forms at the same time, because they change more often than the will does.

Does a will avoid probate?

No. A will directs probate; it does not avoid it. Assets in your name alone with no beneficiary generally go through the probate court. A funded revocable living trust, joint ownership with survivorship, and beneficiary or transfer-on-death designations are the usual ways assets pass outside probate.

Your next step

Pull your latest beneficiary forms and the deed to your home, and check whether each one matches what your will or trust says. If they do not line up, that is the first thing to bring to your estate attorney; these questions to ask an attorney about inheritance help frame the meeting. For how we coordinate this with your tax and investment picture, see estate planning at Age Five Family Office™.

This is general education, not legal or tax advice. The right plan depends on your family’s full picture and should be drafted by a licensed attorney in your state.

Written by

Kevin Luu

Co-Founder and Chief Learning Officer, Bright Advisers

Kevin has advised high-income W-2 tech and biotech families since 2015, and leads the education-first Age Five Family Office from Brea, California.

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