Assuming the rents you think you can generate in the future, the expenses you think you will need to cover future rents and any capital costs needed to be invested to produce future cashflow are all in the Buyer's court. 

@Anthony RosaWell it’s going to cost me a lot more than $200(loss of rent, not sure if they damaged anything, court costs for the eviction, etc) but that’s definitely a glass half full kind of perspective!

Setting up the estate plan in this way keeps the Client's property out of probate, thus ensuring the property is not distributing according to the probate court.

So essentially they can't take the tenants to eviction court because there is technically no one that owns the property right now.

Outside of that, the only other charges I would typically see are for them to appear in court for an eviction or if they need to visit the property for something outside of the norm. i would recommend getting some recommendations from other investors in your area and I think it's best to use a PM if you're out of state and would rather focus on investing.

Since you will have to file in CA and pay CA taxes by virtue of living in the state already, that would likely be your simplest and most hassle-free option.Your rental contracts will all be according to CA laws, and you likely would want any of your LLC disputes to be handled in a CA court as well, so, also good reasons to form a CA LLC. 

As a layperson, you are not:"No individual, other than a member, in good standing, of the bar of this commonwealth shall practice law, or, by word, sign, letter, advertisement or otherwise, hold himself out as authorized, entitled, competent, qualified or able to practice law; provided, that a member of the bar, in good standing, of any other state may appear, by permission of the court, as attorney or counselor, in any case pending therein, if such other state grants like privileges to members of the bar, in good standing, of this commonwealth." 

What would be considered essential holdings of a court judgment?

Mitigation of that risk should be your chief aim!

If push comes to shove, can I just... refuse, and take my chances in small-claims court?