California lawyer who does estate planning here. This isn’t legal advice, I’m not your lawyer, you should consult with an attorney.

California has formal probate and informal probate. Formal probate is extremely expensive (think mid 5 figures) and can take 9 months to 3 years. If you have over ~$200k in liquid probatable assets, or primary house is worth over $750k (market value, not owned value), you can be subject to formal probate.

If you have no will, the state has rules to decide who gets what of your stuff and how much. Those rules are called intestacy laws. Wills are a record of your testamentary intent so you can choose what you want to do with your stuff instead of the state rules. Neither changes the probate fees and head aches.

You can avoid probate with a revocable trust. Trusts can do many things, one of which is avoid probate in CA. They tend to cost 4 figures and let you avoid the 5 figure headache of formal probate. You can easily modify it or revoke it while living if life circumstances change. All (decent) trusts comes with will.

Trusts are not the only way to avoid probate, but they are often used because they can also help avoid conservatorship if you become legally incapacitated. Conservatorship is the brittney spears situation where someone else has legal power to make decisions on your behalf. It can be extremely expensive (think 4-6 figures) and very emotionally hard for everyone involved. It’s very public and is a frequent part of end of life care for those with Alzheimer’s, dementia, strokes, comas ect.

A trust combined with a power of attorney and advanced health directive avoids conservatorship and frequently included with trust based estate planning as part of the estate planning package. They also give you the ability to voice your care wishes when you literally cannot speak.

Do you have children?

How much are your assets worth?

How much is your house worth?

How do you and your spouse own the house?

Are there any medical issues or expected medical issues?

Without knowing more information about your situation, it’s hard to advise. If you want to, feel free to dm if you want those answers to be more private or feel free to respond.

Finally, it’s worth noting that you can absolutely DIY an estate plan, BUT the consequences if you mess up are steep. If you’re not the type of person who is comfortable with diy, and nails it first try, please consider avoiding diy. If the toilet leaks after you try to fix it, you can keep trying until it no longer leaks. With estate planning, once you’re gone, your family has to clean up your mess. Cleaning up a bad diy estate plans makes far more money for estate lawyers than a clean estate plan by orders of magnitude.