Wills & Trusts
What is a Will?
A Last Will & Testament is a legal document that outlines how your assets will be distributed after your passing. It allows you to name beneficiaries, appoint a guardian for minor children, and designate an executor to carry out your wishes.
A Living Will is a legal document that specifies your medical preferences if you become incapacitated and unable to communicate (e.g., life support, resuscitation, pain management). It only applies while you are alive but unable to make decisions for yourself. A living will is often paired with a healthcare proxy (someone you appoint to make medical decisions for you) through a medical power of attorney.
Another term you may have heard of is a Pour-Over Will. Used alongside a Revocable Living Trust to “catch” any assets not already placed in the trust before death, a pour-over will ensures all your assets are transferred to the trust, avoiding probate for those assets.
In short:
A will handles your property after death.
A living will dictates your medical care while you are alive, but unable to decide for yourself.
A pour-over will ensures any unnamed assets “pour-over” into a trust.
Trusts
More recently, many people have also started using trusts to direct the distribution of their property at the time of their passing. A trust is similar to a last will and testament, but a trust allows the trust maker more control over the distribution of their assets, whether by a specific schedule or with certain conditions. It also serves to protect your children’s inheritance. Trusts are also used to protect your privacy by helping to avoid the probate process.
Dying without a will or trust, also known as dying intestate, leaves the determination for who gets what exclusively in the control of state statutes. By contrast, if you pass away with a valid will or trust, dying testate, the will or trust determines how and when your belongings are distributed.
Trusts are effective instruments to disperse your property in a way that a simple will can’t. Learn more about the Revocable Living Trust here.
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