California trust and estate law is seeing a major update. Effective January 1, 2026, Assembly Bill 565 rewrote California Probate Code Section 15804 in its entirety. This change makes the law much clearer and more flexible. The core idea of virtual representation is simple: a competent adult can represent and legally bind individuals who cannot represent themselves, as long as there is no conflict of interest.

AB 2658, introduced by Assembly Member Ellis, would amend Probate Code sections 100 and 102 to expressly authorize a married person or registered domestic partner to establish a trust and fund it with that spouse’s one-half interest in community real property, community personal property, and quasi-community personal property, for the purpose of disposing of that interest at death. Critically, the bill would clarify that community property transferred to such a trust retains its character as com

In re Tung Trust: A standard 30-day survivorship clause alone does not show clear intent to override California’s antilapse statute, so a predeceased beneficiary’s children still inherit by substitution. Halperin v. Halperin: California does not recognize a standalone tort for intentional interference with expected inheritance when the Probate Code already provides an adequate remedy, so such disputes must be pursued through probate rather than civil court.