Community property in trust.

Plain English Breakdown

The bill summary does not provide specific details on who will conduct the study or what happens if both spouses do not agree to change how community property is treated in a trust.

Community Property in Trust

This law allows one spouse to create a trust with half of the couple's shared property and requires the California Department of Aging to study theft from elders and dependent adults in long-term care facilities.

What This Bill Does

• Allows one spouse to establish a trust funded by transferring their share (one-half) of community real property, personal property, and quasi-community personal property for use after that spouse's death.
• Specifies that the transferred interest remains community property unless both spouses agree otherwise in writing.
• Requires the California Department of Aging to contract out a study on theft from elders and dependent adults in long-term care facilities.
• Needs the department to submit a report about the study to lawmakers by January 1, 2029.

Who It Names or Affects

• Married couples or those in registered domestic partnerships who want to manage their shared property through trusts.
• The California Department of Aging and people working for it.
• Older adults and dependent adults living in long-term care facilities.

Terms To Know

Community Property

Property owned equally by a married couple or those in registered domestic partnerships.

Trust

A legal arrangement where one person (the trustee) manages property for the benefit of another person (the beneficiary).

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill does not specify what happens if both spouses do not agree to change how community property is treated in a trust.
• It's unclear who will conduct the study on theft from elders and dependent adults in long-term care facilities.

Official Summary Text

AB 2658, as amended, Ellis.
Crimes against elders.
Community property in trust.
Existing law establishes procedures for the creation, modification, and termination of a trust, and regulates the administration of trusts by trustees on behalf of beneficiaries. Under existing law, upon the death of a person who is married or in a registered domestic partnership,
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of the community property and quasi-community property belongs to the surviving spouse, unless the spouses have agreed in writing to divide the property in another manner. Existing law authorizes a decedent’s surviving spouse to require the transferee of quasi-community property in which the surviving spouse had an expectancy at the time of transfer to restore to the decedent’s estate
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of the property if the transferee retains the property or, if not,
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of its proceeds or, if none,
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of its value at the time of transfer, provided outlined requirements are met.
This bill would clarify that a spouse may establish a trust and fund that trust by transferring to it that spouse’s
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of the community real property, community personal property, and quasi-community personal property for the purpose of disposing of that spouse’s
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on that spouse’s death.
The bill would specify that a spouse’s interest in community property that is transferred to the trust remains community property, unless both spouses agree otherwise in writing.
Existing law, the Mello-Granlund Older Californians Act, establishes the California Department of Aging and sets forth the state’s commitment to, among others, older adults. Existing law makes it a misdemeanor or a felony for a caretaker of an elder or dependent adult to violate any law proscribing theft, embezzlement, forgery, fraud, or identity theft with respect to the property or personal identifying information of that elder or dependent adult, as specified.
This bill would require the department to contract out a study on theft from elders and dependent adults in long-term care facilities, as specified. The bill would require the department to submit the report to the
Legislature no later than January 1, 2029, and would repeal that provision on January 1, 2033.

Current Bill Text

Download Bill PDF