How to Hold Title in California: What Every Los Angeles Home Buyer Needs to Know

How should you hold title when buying a home in California?

California buyers must choose how to hold title before closing. For married couples, Community Property with Right of Survivorship (CPWRS) offers both probate avoidance and a full stepped-up tax basis when one spouse dies, which can eliminate capital gains on decades of appreciation. For single buyers and unmarried partners, joint tenancy or a living trust each serve different goals. In Los Angeles luxury transactions, buyers with existing estate plans almost always buy in the name of their revocable living trust, which avoids probate, keeps the transfer private, and does not trigger property tax reassessment.

By Paul Blair | June 23, 2026

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Early in escrow, your escrow officer will send you a short form asking how you want to take title. It looks routine. Most buyers circle an answer and send it back without much thought.

On a $400,000 purchase, that might be fine. On a $4 million home in the Hollywood Hills or a $7 million property in Bel Air, that decision can affect your tax bill by hundreds of thousands of dollars and determine whether your heirs go through probate after you're gone.

California gives you five main ways to hold title. Here is what each one means and how to choose.

The Five Ways to Hold Title in California

Sole ownership is what it sounds like: one person on title, no other parties. This is the only option if you're buying alone and want complete control. It says nothing about what happens to the property when you die, so you'll want a will or a trust to direct that.

Joint tenancy is the most common choice for unmarried co-buyers and, historically, for married couples who didn't know there was a better option. All owners hold equal shares. When one owner dies, their share passes automatically to the survivors without going through probate. But there's a major tax catch for married couples, which I'll cover in the next section.

Tenancy in common (TIC) allows unequal ownership shares and no automatic survivorship. If you and a business partner buy a property where you put in 70 percent of the down payment, you can hold title 70/30. When either of you dies, your share goes through your estate and passes by your will, not automatically to the other owner.

Community property applies to married couples and registered domestic partners in California. Everything you acquire together during the marriage is presumed to be community property, owned 50/50. Each spouse can pass their half by will to anyone they choose. On its own, community property does not avoid probate.

Community property with right of survivorship (CPWRS) is the option most buyers overlook. California added it as a vesting option in 2001. It combines the tax benefits of community property with the automatic survivorship of joint tenancy. When one spouse dies, the other inherits the property outright without going through probate, and the entire property receives a full stepped-up tax basis. That last part is the reason it beats joint tenancy on a California home that has appreciated significantly.

Why the Tax Difference Between CPWRS and Joint Tenancy Is So Large

This is the detail that surprises most buyers.

Under California law, property held as community property qualifies for what tax professionals call a "double step-up in basis." When one spouse dies, the tax basis for the entire property resets to the fair market value at the date of death, not just the deceased's half.

Joint tenancy does not do this. Only the deceased spouse's half gets stepped up. The surviving spouse's half keeps its original purchase basis.

Here's what that looks like in practice. Suppose you and your spouse buy a home in Los Feliz for $3 million. Twenty years later, one of you passes away and the property is worth $6 million. You're thinking about selling.

If you held title as joint tenants, your basis is $4.5 million ($3 million step-up on the deceased's half, plus your original $1.5 million basis on your half). You owe capital gains tax on $1.5 million of gain, plus California income tax at ordinary rates.

If you held title as community property with right of survivorship, your basis is $6 million. You owe nothing on the $3 million of appreciation that happened during the marriage.

On a $6 million Los Angeles home, the difference can easily exceed $500,000 in taxes. That's not a rounding error. It's the cost of filling in the wrong box at escrow.

For more on how capital gains work when you eventually sell your California home, the post on capital gains tax when selling a Los Angeles home covers the Section 121 exclusion, California's ordinary income treatment, and how your basis affects your net proceeds.

The Probate Question

California probate is slow and public. The court process can take 12 to 18 months on a standard estate and longer if there are complications. Probate records become public, which is a consideration for buyers in the luxury segment who value privacy.

Both joint tenancy and CPWRS avoid probate at the first death. The property passes automatically to the surviving owner, with no court involvement and no waiting period.

Standard community property (without the right of survivorship) and tenancy in common both require probate unless the property is held in a trust or there is other planning in place.

The Living Trust Option

Many buyers in Hollywood Hills, Beverly Hills, and Bel Air purchase homes in the name of their revocable living trust. If you already have an estate plan in place, your attorney has likely told you to take title this way.

A trust takes title in a form like: "Jane Smith, Trustee of the Jane Smith Revocable Living Trust dated January 1, 2020."

During your lifetime, you control the trust completely. You can sell, refinance, or modify the property the same way you would if it were in your personal name. When you die, the successor trustee distributes the property according to the trust document, without probate, and without a public record.

For couples with significant assets in Los Angeles, a trust is often the gold standard. It sidesteps probate entirely, works even if one spouse is incapacitated and cannot sign documents, and gives you more flexibility than CPWRS if your estate plan needs to account for children from a prior marriage, a blended family, or charitable giving.

One important note: transferring a property into your own revocable living trust after closing does not trigger a property tax reassessment under California law. You can close in your personal names and then deed the property to your trust shortly after. Some buyers prefer this when they're closing on a tight timeline and the trust paperwork isn't ready.

If you hold title in a trust and later decide to sell, the process is slightly different from a standard sale. The post on selling a home held in a living trust in Los Angeles covers what trustees need to bring to escrow, the Certification of Trust, and how the disclosure rules work for trust-held properties.

For Buyers Who Aren't Married

If you're buying alone, sole ownership is straightforward. Your estate plan controls what happens to the property after you're gone.

If you're buying with someone you're not married to, whether a sibling, a parent, a business partner, or an unregistered domestic partner, joint tenancy and tenancy in common are both available.

Joint tenancy makes sense when you want equal ownership and automatic survivorship. If one of you dies, the other inherits the property immediately, without probate.

Tenancy in common makes sense when ownership shares are unequal or when each owner wants to pass their share independently through their estate. It also allows each owner to sell their percentage interest separately, which joint tenancy does not.

For unregistered domestic partners making a large purchase together, it's worth talking to an estate attorney about how each vesting option affects your specific financial and legal situation.

When Escrow Will Ask You and What to Prepare

Your escrow officer will typically send vesting instructions within the first two weeks of escrow. The grant deed, which is the document recorded at the county recorder's office at closing, must specify how title is being held.

You do not have to decide on the day you open escrow, but you should decide before the deed is prepared for signing, which typically happens a few days before your closing date.

If you're buying in the name of a living trust, have the full trust name and trust date ready for your escrow officer. If you don't have a trust but want to set one up, most estate attorneys in the Los Angeles area can prepare a basic revocable living trust in a matter of weeks. It's worth the conversation before you're deep in escrow.

To understand where this fits in the overall timeline, the post on how escrow works in California walks through the full sequence from opening to recording.

If you're unsure which vesting option fits your situation, that's exactly the kind of question to talk through with your agent and your estate planning attorney before you're in the middle of escrow. The decision looks small on the form, but it has long-term consequences that are worth thinking through ahead of time.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I change how I hold title after we close?

Yes. You can transfer title after closing by recording a new deed, typically a grant deed or quitclaim deed. The most common reason to do this is moving the property from personal names into a revocable living trust. In California, that kind of transfer to your own trust does not trigger a property tax reassessment. You should work with an attorney or title company to prepare the deed correctly.

Does holding title in a trust change my Prop 13 tax base?

No. Transferring a property into your own revocable living trust does not trigger reassessment under Proposition 13. The property continues to be assessed at the original purchase value, subject to the standard 2 percent annual cap, regardless of whether it is in your name or your trust. For more on how Prop 13 and Prop 19 interact with property transfers in Los Angeles, see the post on Proposition 19 and property tax portability.

What happens if we hold title as community property but one of us dies without a will?

If you hold standard community property (without right of survivorship) and one spouse dies intestate, California's intestacy laws govern distribution. For community property, the surviving spouse typically inherits the deceased's share under state law, but the estate still goes through probate. CPWRS avoids this entirely because survivorship is automatic and does not depend on a will.

Is CPWRS available in other states?

No. Community Property with Right of Survivorship is specific to California and a handful of other community property states. If you own property in multiple states, each state's law governs how title is held in that state. The specific CPWRS vesting option is a California feature that buyers moving from non-community property states often encounter for the first time.

Do we need an attorney to choose how to hold title?

You are not legally required to consult an attorney, but it is worth doing on a luxury purchase. Your escrow officer can explain the options but cannot give legal or tax advice. For a purchase in the $3 million to $10 million range, an hour with an estate planning attorney to confirm the right vesting strategy for your situation is money well spent.

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Choosing how to hold title is one of those decisions that happens quietly in the background of your purchase and then shapes your estate for decades. For most married buyers in Los Angeles, Community Property with Right of Survivorship is the better choice over joint tenancy on a home that's likely to appreciate. For buyers with existing estate plans, buying in the name of your trust is usually the cleanest path.

If you'd like to talk through what makes sense for your situation, or if you're looking for a referral to an estate planning attorney in the Los Angeles area who works regularly with real estate transactions, reach out through the contact form at greysq.com/contact. I'm happy to walk through your options.

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About Paul Blair

Paul Blair is the founder and broker of Grey Square, a virtual real estate brokerage representing buyers and sellers across Dallas and Los Angeles. With 22 years in the business and more than $200 million in closed transactions, Paul works the full range of the market, from luxury homes in the Park Cities and Preston Hollow to estates in the Hollywood Hills and across the Westside. Connect with Paul and the Grey Square team at greysq.com. TX TREC #9011505 · CA DRE #01792671.