California has no state estate tax — but probate fees and Prop 19 reassessments still bite.
California has no state estate tax, but probate is expensive (statutory fees on the gross estate) and Proposition 19 reshapes how the parent-child exclusion works for inherited real property. The right San Diego estate plan keeps your assets out of probate, uses revocable trusts to manage incapacity, and threads Prop 19 carefully so your kids do not lose the property tax basis on the family home.
These ten San Diego estate planning firms were selected based on Best Lawyers and Super Lawyers recognition, U.S. News & World Report Best Law Firms rankings, California State Bar Certified Specialist designations (Estate Planning, Trust & Probate Law), and client review patterns on Avvo, Justia, and Google. Firms that surfaced consistently across at least two independent sources made the list.
How we picked these 10: We do not accept payment for placement, and we do not write sponsored reviews. More on our methodology → | How to compare firms →
Practice focus: Estate planning, wealth transfer, fiduciary litigation
Long-standing San Diego boutique known for high-net-worth estate planning. Alexander C. Winkle and Alexander L. Bruin lead the estate group.
Deep bench for taxable estates, dynasty trusts, family limited partnerships, and charitable planning. Strong fit when the estate is over the federal exemption and needs multi-generational structuring.
Practice focus: Estate planning, probate, trust administration, fiduciary litigation
Ranked by U.S. News & World Report as a Tier 1 San Diego firm for Trust & Estate Law and Trust & Estate Litigation.
30+ years of San Diego practice. Strong fit when planning and litigation may both be on the table — conservatorships, guardianships, and trust contests.
Practice focus: Estate planning, business succession, probate
80+ years of San Diego practice; Trusts & Estates Practice Group serves multi-generational San Diego families.
Full-service San Diego firm with one of the deepest local benches. Strong fit when the estate is intertwined with a closely held business.
Practice focus: High-net-worth estate planning, family office, fiduciary litigation
Six-attorney San Diego/Del Mar team led by partners Jenny Hill Bratt and Matthew Owens; AmLaw 100 firm.
BigLaw resources with private-client focus. Strong fit for ultra-high-net-worth planning, GST work, and family office structuring.
Practice focus: Estate planning, tax controversy, probate, trust administration
Founder Ronson J. Shamoun holds a J.D. and LL.M. in Taxation from the University of San Diego. Offices in downtown San Diego, Orange County, and El Cajon.
Tax-forward estate planning. Strong fit when there are IRS or FTB issues alongside the estate plan — back taxes, audit exposure, or installment agreements that interact with trust design.
Practice focus: Estate planning, probate, trust administration
Founding attorney Nicole D'Ambrogi is a Super Lawyers Rising Star focused exclusively on estate planning.
Boutique flat-fee practice. Strong fit for a straightforward middle-class estate plan where flat-fee certainty matters more than BigLaw resources.
Practice focus: Estate planning, wealth transfer, family office
Nancy G. Henderson joined the San Diego office in February 2026 to lead the private-client group; AmLaw 200 firm.
Regional AmLaw firm with deep private-client capability. Strong fit for cross-state planning — many San Diego clients have property in Arizona, Nevada, or Colorado where Snell & Wilmer also operates.
Practice focus: Estate planning, probate, trust administration, trust litigation
Long-standing San Diego boutique with 30+ years of local trust and probate practice.
Solo-led practice with direct attorney access. Strong fit when you want one attorney through the entire matter rather than handoffs to associates.
Practice focus: Estate planning, probate, trust administration
Founded in 1976 by James Vaughn; 50+ years of combined attorney experience in San Diego estate and trust work.
Long-running San Diego boutique with a plain-English brand. Strong fit for first-time planners who want the process explained without jargon.
Practice focus: Estate planning, trust administration, elder law, probate
California State Bar Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust & Probate Law — a designation held by fewer than 1% of California attorneys.
Certified Specialist with focus on seniors and beneficiaries. Strong fit when elder-law issues (Medi-Cal planning, capacity, conservatorship risk) overlap with the estate plan.
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Fit your situation, not just the practice area. A estate planning firm that does mostly executive-level matters is a different fit from one that does mostly hourly-worker matters. Call the firm and ask: "What does a typical client look like for you? What does a typical case look like?" If the answer is your situation, you are in the right place.
Ask who actually handles the case. Many firms market on the senior partner and route the day-to-day work to a junior associate. That is not automatically bad — junior associates can be excellent — but you should know who you are working with. Ask: "Who will I be talking to day-to-day? How often does the senior partner sit in?"
Compare quotes side by side. Most San Diego firms on this list offer a free or low-cost initial consultation. Use two of them. Compare fee structure, retainer, and the answers to the same set of questions across firms.
San Diego estate planning attorneys generally charge $300-$600/hour. A simple will package (will, durable power of attorney, advance health care directive) runs $750-$2,000 flat. A revocable living trust package with pour-over will and ancillary documents runs $2,500-$5,500 flat. Complex plans involving credit-shelter trusts, GST planning, family limited partnerships, or charitable remainder trusts run $7,500-$25,000+. Probate is governed by California's statutory fee schedule (4% of the first $100K, 3% of the next $100K, 2% of the next $800K, etc.) plus extraordinary fees — a $1M estate carries roughly $23,000 in statutory probate attorney fees alone.
A typical revocable trust package signs in 4-6 weeks from intake — first meeting, draft package within 10-14 days, review and revise, sign and notarize, then fund the trust. Probate in San Diego County Superior Court runs 9-18 months in uncontested matters and longer when there are creditor claims, real property sales, or contests. Trust administration after death is typically 6-12 months in straightforward cases. Prop 19 parent-child exclusion paperwork should be filed within one year of the death or transfer.
San Diego probate matters are heard in the San Diego County Superior Court Probate Division, with the main probate court at the Central Division downtown. The court oversees probate, conservatorships, guardianships, and trust contests. Out-of-state assets generally require an ancillary probate in the state where the property sits, which is one of the reasons a revocable trust is so commonly recommended for California homeowners.
San Diego estate planning has its own quirks. Three details matter more here than in most other markets.
California probate is statutory and expensive. California's mandatory attorney fee schedule for probate (Probate Code §10810) means a $1M estate generates roughly $23,000 in statutory attorney fees plus a matching executor fee — even on an uncontested probate. A funded revocable trust avoids the whole process.
Proposition 19 changed the parent-child exclusion. Before 2021, parents could transfer a home to a child and keep the existing property tax base. Prop 19 limits that exclusion to the child's principal residence, capped, and reassesses anything above. Many older estate plans are now stale on this point and need a Prop 19 review.
Community property rules matter. California is a community property state. The way assets are titled — community, separate, or community with right of survivorship — drives the step-up in basis at death. Mistitled real property is a common, avoidable problem in San Diego estate plans.
Out-of-state property triggers ancillary probate. If you own a vacation home in Arizona or a rental in Nevada, your San Diego will alone is not enough — your heirs will face a separate probate in each state. A revocable trust handles this cleanly.
The first hundred Google results for "estate planning lawyer San Diego" include thousands of firms. Most are competent. A handful are problems. The patterns to walk away from:
Guaranteed outcomes. No ethical attorney can guarantee a result. If a firm promises a specific recovery or dismissal, leave.
The vanishing partner. You meet a senior name at intake, then never speak to them again. Ask in writing who handles your case from day to day.
Pressure to sign immediately. Reputable firms give you the retainer in writing, time to read it, and the option to take it home. High-pressure intake is almost always a volume mill.
No verifiable track record. The firm should be able to point to published verdicts, settlements, peer rankings, or bar association recognition. "We have helped thousands of clients" is marketing. Specific cases, numbers, and third-party rankings are evidence.
Vague fee terms. Every legitimate San Diego lawyer will give you a written engagement letter with the fee structure, what is covered, what triggers extra charges, and what happens if you fire them. If the firm cannot put that in writing, walk away.
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The free consultation is short — usually 30 to 45 minutes. The lawyer cannot give you a serious case assessment without the documents. Bring the file. Most consultations turn into useful guidance only after the attorney has seen the paper trail.
The paper trail. Every email, text, and letter that touches the matter. Print or PDF the threads in chronological order. If you have a contract or written agreement, bring the signed version and any drafts that show what was negotiated. For court matters, bring every filed document and any orders that have issued.
A written timeline. One page. Bullet points. Date on the left, what happened on the right. Lawyers think in chronology — a timeline is the single most useful artifact you can prepare.
Names and contact information. Everyone involved on the other side, anyone who witnessed the events, your prior attorneys (if any), the relevant insurance carriers or institutions. A lawyer needs to run a conflict check before taking the case; a short list saves time.
Your goals, in writing. What does a good outcome look like? What does an acceptable outcome look like? What is non-negotiable? A lawyer who knows your goals can tell you whether the case is worth the cost.
Most San Diego estate planning firms on this list offer a free or low-cost initial consultation. Use it. Bring a list of questions, write down the answers, and compare across two firms before you sign.
Most San Diego homeowners benefit from a revocable trust because it avoids California's statutory probate fees, which run roughly 4-5% of gross estate value on the first $1M. If you rent and have modest assets, a will is usually enough. The right answer depends on assets, family structure, and how much complexity you want your executor to deal with.
Proposition 19 limits the parent-child property tax exclusion to a child's primary residence and caps the exclusion amount. Many pre-2021 estate plans assumed the old rules and need a refresh — especially if you own rental property you intend to pass to children.
The federal exemption is roughly $13.6M per person in 2026, scheduled to sunset at the end of 2025 unless Congress extends it. California has no separate state estate tax.
California sets statutory attorney and executor fees on a sliding scale: 4% of the first $100K, 3% of the next $100K, 2% of the next $800K, 1% of the next $9M, 0.5% of the next $15M. A $1M gross estate carries about $23,000 in statutory attorney fees plus a matching executor fee — before extraordinary fees and court costs.
Review every 3-5 years and after any major life event: marriage, divorce, birth, death of a beneficiary, large asset purchase or sale, or a move out of California. Tax-law changes (like Prop 19) also trigger a review.
A pour-over will is paired with a revocable trust. It catches any assets you forgot to title in the trust and 'pours them over' into the trust at death. Most California trust packages include one.
Online services (LegalZoom, Trust & Will) can produce a serviceable simple will for a renter with few assets. Once you own real property in California, the cost of getting the trust funded and titled correctly outweighs the cost of an attorney — and a $200 mistake on titling can cost your heirs $20,000 in probate fees.
A California probate petition (named after Estate of Heggstad) used when an asset was meant to be in the trust but was never formally retitled. The court can declare the asset part of the trust without a full probate. Useful, but the cleaner answer is to fund the trust correctly while you are alive.
One last thing. Choosing a lawyer is personal. Read the reviews. Call two or three firms before you sign. Ask each one: How many cases like mine have you taken to verdict in the last three years? The answer tells you what you need to know. — The LawFirmSquare team