Will or trust?

---

Wills and Trusts are common documents used to create your own estate plan.  Should you use a will or trust?  Let's touch on a few characteristics:

Will:
1) Allows you to specify who gets what;

2) You may declare a guardian for your minor children;

3) Let's you decide who will be your personal representative (this is the person that acts on your behalf to wrap up all your affairs);

4) Your estate MUST be go to probate court.  Court can be time consuming and expensive, especially if you need a probate lawyer.

Trust:

1) Allows you to specify who gets what AND, perhaps more importantly when;

2) You can declare a guardian for your minor children AND create a plan that directs how your assets should be used to care for them;

3) You get to decide who your trustee is.  Since a trust is commonly created during your life-time you can be your own trustee.  Upon your death or becoming disabled another trustee can step in and follow the rules of the trust in managing your affairs;

4) Many trusts can avoid court altogether!  No court is a good thing.

Both of these methods are better than no estate plan and, technically, neither is necessarily better than the other in all circumstances.  While trusts definitely have superior flexibility there are some estates where it may not make sense.  On the other hand, for some estates, a trust is by far the best vehicle to distribute assets.  The decision to have a living trust vs will is an important one.

Remember we want your estate plan to be personal to YOU.