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Estate plan requirements
Everything your estate plan needs to be valid in California: execution requirements, the documents we generate, statutory citations, and the exact wording our generators insert.
| Document | Witnesses | Notary |
|---|---|---|
| Will | 2 required | Recommended |
| Living trust | None required | Recommended |
| Power of attorney | 2 required, or notary | Required unless witnessed |
| Healthcare directive | 2 required, or notary | Alternative to witnesses |
Will, living trust, durable power of attorney, healthcare directive, and six more documents, all valid in California once signed the way California requires.
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California content last reviewed September 9, 2026.
SB 1458 broadens RUFADAA to include agents acting under a power of attorney and court-appointed conservators, in addition to executors and trustees. Important for anyone with significant cryptocurrency or cloud accounts.
SB 696 authorizes RON in California but delays implementation until the Secretary of State completes its technology project or until January 1, 2030, whichever comes first. Out-of-state RON is currently recognized for California documents.
Takes effect: January 1, 2030
Cal. Prob. Code §6100 et seq. (execution requirements at Cal. Prob. Code §6110)
Witnesses: 2 required
Two witnesses must be present at the same time to witness testator signing or acknowledgment
Witnesses together: Required
Both witnesses must be present at the same time when they witness you signing your will, or when you acknowledge your signature or the will to them (Cal. Prob. Code §6110(c)(1)). California does not require them to sign in each other's presence, and it does not set a deadline for their signatures beyond your lifetime.
Notarization: Recommended
Not legally required. The will is made self-proving by the witnesses' declaration under penalty of perjury, not by notarization
Holographic will: Valid
Handwritten wills without witnesses are recognized in California
Self-proving affidavit: Available
California has no single statutory self-proving form for ordinary wills. The declaration text below is drafter-constructed to track Cal. Prob. Code §6110(c)(1) execution elements and is signed by the witnesses under penalty of perjury pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure §2015.5, which is the Prob. Code §8220 mechanism that substitutes for a sworn affidavit before a notary. A subscribing-witness affidavit sworn before a notary is an alternative Prob. Code §8220 proof mechanism; a bare notary acknowledgment of the will itself is not.
Cal. Fam. Code §760 et seq.
Witnesses: None required
No formal execution requirements beyond settlor signature; notarization strongly recommended when funding real property
Notarization: Recommended
Not legally required for the trust document, but needed to transfer real property
Certification of trust: Cal. Prob. Code §18100.5
California lets your trustee prove the trust to a bank, brokerage, title company, insurer, or transfer agent with a short certification instead of the trust itself. It states that the trust exists, who the trustee is, and what the trustee may do, and it leaves out who inherits and what each person receives. Will.com generates the California Certification of Trust with your trust, built to the contents that section requires. Sign it in front of the same notary, at the same sitting as the trust. The same section also says what happens if someone demands the trust itself anyway. Cal. Prob. Code §18100.5(h) provides that, except when requested by a beneficiary or in the context of litigation concerning a trust and subject to the provisions of subdivision (e), any person making a demand for the trust documents in addition to a certification of trust to prove facts set forth in the certification of trust acceptable to the third party shall be liable for damages, including attorney's fees, incurred as a result of the refusal to accept the certification of trust in lieu of the requested documents, if the court determines that the person acted in bad faith in requesting the trust documents. Subdivision (e) is the exception that matters in practice: a person whose interest is, or may be, affected by the certification may require the trustee to provide excerpts from the trust documents and any amendments which designate, evidence, or pertain to the succession of the trustee or confer upon the trustee the power to act in the pending transaction, and asking for those is not the demand §18100.5(h) penalizes.
Cal. Prob. Code §4401
Last verified: 2011-07-25
Witnesses: 2 witnesses, or notary
California requires one of the two for a valid power of attorney: acknowledgment before a notary, or the signatures of 2 witnesses who meet the statute's qualifications (Cal. Prob. Code §4121(c)). This form provides no witness lines.
Notarization: Required unless witnessed
California requires EITHER acknowledgment before a notary public OR signatures of at least two witnesses who meet the statutory witness qualifications (Cal. Prob. Code §4121; witness qualifications at §4122). At least one of those paths must be completed for the POA to be valid. The Uniform Statutory Form must be notarized to be legally sufficient as a statutory form: the wording must comply substantially with the statutory form, the form must be properly completed, and the principal's signature must be acknowledged (Cal. Prob. Code §4402). A statutory form signed before two witnesses instead may still be a legally sufficient power of attorney (Cal. Prob. Code §4121(c)(2)), but it is not a properly executed statutory form, so it falls outside the remedy available to an agent whose authority a third person refuses to honor (Cal. Prob. Code §4406(a)).
Key features of California POA
State-specific notes
Cal. Prob. Code §§4700 and 4701
Witnesses: 2 required, or notary
California accepts either 2 witnesses or notarization
Notarization: Accepted as alternative
Acknowledged before a notary satisfies the 2-witness requirement, except that a patient in a skilled nursing facility also needs a patient advocate or ombudsman to sign as a witness even where the directive is notarized (Cal. Prob. Code §4673(a)(3), §4675(a))
State-specific notes
$29/year unlocks the documents below alongside the four free ones above. Your answers and documents are saved privately to your account, encrypted in your browser, so you can revise them any time life changes.
Advance Health Care Directive (serves as agent-designation vehicle)
Names the agent who controls funeral, burial, or cremation decisions, with optional preferences.
In this state: California recognizes a statutory Advance Health Care Directive (serves as agent-designation vehicle); we follow that form. (Cal. Health & Safety Code §7100.1)
HIPAA Authorization
Stand-alone PHI release that survives death for the period you specify, separate from the in-life authorization in your healthcare directive. The free packet includes it too whenever it has a healthcare directive.
In this state: Cites the California Confidentiality of Medical Information Act, Civ. Code §56.11, and meets all nine of its validity conditions, including the specific expiration date §56.11(b)(8) requires in place of California's one-year default. Mental-health records are released under Welf. & Inst. Code §5328(a)(2) and developmental-disability records under Welf. & Inst. Code §4514(b). Note that §5328(a)(2) gives effect to your designation only with the approval of the professional in charge of your care, so your signature alone may not compel release. This addendum does not authorize release of HIV test results: Health & Safety Code §120980(g) requires a separate authorization for each disclosure, so no standing authorization is available in California. A separate, optional psychotherapy-notes authorization on its own signature page carries a second California addendum. It recites each of the nine conditions Cal. Civ. Code §56.11(b) sets for a valid authorization to release medical information, including the 14-point typeface of §56.11(b)(1), the separate signature §56.11(b)(2) requires, and the specific expiration date §56.11(b)(8) asks for in place of California's one-year default. It also states the right to a copy that §56.11(b)(9) and §56.11(c) provide for.
Nomination of Conservator of the Estate
Pre-nominates the person you want a court to appoint if a conservator (or guardian of the estate) is ever needed.
Business Succession Declaration
Identifies your interests in any closely-held businesses and how they should be transferred or wound down.
Real-Estate Retitling Checklist
Step-by-step instructions for transferring real-property deeds into your trust so the trust actually controls those assets.
Letter of Instruction
Non-binding personal note to your executor and family: where to find documents, account access, funeral wishes, and other practical guidance.
Free vs. paid
| Free | Paid | |
|---|---|---|
| All 4 state-specific documents | Included in free | Included in paid tier |
| State-specific signing guide | Included in free | Included in paid tier |
| Download as PDF, print forever | Included in free | Included in paid tier |
| Secure online storage | Not in free | Included in paid tier |
| Covers real estate, business, digital, and funeral wishes | Not in free | Included in paid tier |
| Disposition of remains authorization | Not in free | Included in paid tier |
| Standalone HIPAA authorization | Not in free | Included in paid tier |
| Nomination of conservator | Not in free | Included in paid tier |
| Business succession declaration | Not in free | Included in paid tier |
| Real-estate retitling checklist | Not in free | Included in paid tier |
| Special needs trust provisions | Not in free | Included in paid tier |
| Letter of instruction, pre-filled and editable | Not in free | Included in paid tier |
| Edit anytime | Not in free | Included in paid tier |
| Annual review reminder | Not in free | Included in paid tier |
California is a community property state. Assets acquired during marriage are jointly owned by both spouses. This affects every document in your estate plan.
Community property rules can change how a married person's will, trust, power of attorney, and healthcare directive work together.
California has not adopted electronic will legislation. A traditional paper will with physical signatures is required.
California has adopted RUFADAA (2016). This is the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act, which lets your executor, trustee, or agent access your email, social media, cryptocurrency wallets, cloud storage, and other digital accounts after death or incapacity.
To take advantage of RUFADAA, your will, trust, or power of attorney must explicitly grant authority to access digital assets. Without explicit authorization, service providers can deny access even to a court-appointed executor.
California authorized RON in 2024. This law has no fixed start date. January 1, 2030 is its outside limit, and the bar lifts earlier if the Secretary of State certifies on its website that its remote online notarization technology project is complete. SB 696 (2023) enacted California's remote online notarization framework effective January 1, 2024, but California-licensed notaries cannot perform in-state remote online notarization until the Secretary of State's technology platform is implemented, which is not on a fixed date (Cal. Civ. Code §1181.1). The bar lifts at the earlier of two events: the Secretary of State certifying on its website that the technology project is complete, or January 1, 2030 unless the Secretary informs the Legislature and the Governor in writing on or before January 1, 2029 that the project will not be finished by then. So in-state remote online notarization could begin before 2030, and the 2030 date can itself slip. An acknowledgment taken outside California is sufficient in California if it is taken in accordance with the laws of the place where the acknowledgment is made (Cal. Civ. Code §1189(b)), so an out-of-state remote online notarization may be relied on before then.
Will
Not allowed
Trust
Not allowed
POA
Not allowed
For the paper documents Will.com produces, California does not allow remote online witnessing. Witnesses must be physically present when you sign.
Will
Not allowed
Trust
Not allowed
POA
Not allowed
HC Directive
Not allowed
This information is general in nature and not legal advice. Laws change. Consult a licensed estate planning attorney in California for guidance specific to your situation.