FREE SELF-ASSESSMENT
The Estate Plan Checkup
Fifteen questions, about two minutes. Find the weak spot in your estate plan before your family finds it for you.
By: T. Owen Rassman, Esq., LL.M.
Last Updated: August 31, 2026
Most estate plans do not fail dramatically. They fail quietly: a trust that was never funded, a successor trustee who moved away a decade ago, documents nobody can find on the day they are needed. The plan looked done, so nobody looked again.
This checkup works like a physical. Answer honestly, and it will show you which of the five systems in your plan is strongest, which is weakest, and what the weak one means in practical terms under California law.
How to answer: Yes, Not sure, or No. Treat “Not sure” as a real answer, not a dodge. If you are not sure, your family probably is not either, and that is exactly what this checkup is designed to surface.
Your weak spot
Want a straight answer on how to fix it? Bring your results to a consultation. Owen Rassman will review your situation, tell you exactly what needs attention, and what it would cost. If your plan is actually fine, he will tell you that too.
This checkup is a general educational tool, not legal advice, and completing it does not create an attorney-client relationship with Opelon LLP. It reflects California law as of 2026 and may not account for your individual circumstances.
The five systems this checkup tests
An estate plan is not one document. It is five systems that have to work together, and a weakness in any one of them can undo the others. Here is what each section of the checkup is really testing.
1. Core documents
A complete California plan rests on four documents: a revocable living trust, a pour-over will, a durable power of attorney for finances, and an advance health care directive. Each one covers a situation the others cannot. A will alone does not avoid probate, and nothing in a will helps if you become incapacitated rather than pass away.
2. Trust funding
A trust only controls assets that are actually titled into it. Deeding your home to the trust, retitling accounts, and aligning beneficiary designations is called funding, and it is the step most often left unfinished. An unfunded trust looks complete on paper and still sends your family to probate, which begins in California at $208,850. A home alone clears that threshold.
3. Your people
Every plan names people: a successor trustee to step in, agents to act under your power of attorney and health care directive, guardians for minor children. The documents can be perfect and still stall if the people you chose years ago are no longer able, willing, or the right choice. This section tests whether your plan’s cast still matches your life.
4. Keeping it current
An estate plan is a snapshot of the day you signed it. Marriages, divorces, births, deaths, moves, new businesses, and new laws all age that snapshot, and an out-of-date plan can distribute assets in ways you never intended. A review every three to five years, and after any major life event, keeps the snapshot current.
5. Findability
More than half of adult children say they do not know where their parents keep their estate plan. A plan nobody can find, with contacts nobody knows to call and accounts nobody can access, behaves exactly like no plan at all. This section tests whether your plan would actually surface on the day it is needed.
What a plan review looks like
If your score surprised you, the next step is simple. Bring your results to a consultation and Owen Rassman will walk through them with you: which gaps are real in your situation, which are fine to leave alone, and exactly what fixing each one would involve and cost. If your plan holds up, he will tell you that too, and you will leave knowing your next review date instead of wondering.
Call 760-278-1116 or schedule a review online. The consultation is free, and there is no obligation to fix anything with us.
T. Owen Rassman, Esq., LL.M.
Owen is a licensed California attorney () | View Full Attorney Profile→