State law decides
Without a valid will, a state’s intestacy rules generally determine who inherits. Those rules may not match your relationships or intentions.
Estate planning, made clearer
Make your wishes easier to carry out
Wills.com is a practical starting point for understanding wills, trusts, and the decisions that help protect the people and work that matter to you.
The foundation
A will and a trust solve different problems.
For many plans, the question is not “will or trust?” A well-considered plan can use a will as a safety net and a trust where ongoing management, privacy, or a more tailored distribution plan is useful.
Wills
Give clear directions.
Name an executor, nominate guardians for minor children, and direct probate assets to the people or causes you choose.
Read the will guide →
Trusts
Set terms for stewardship.
A trust can hold property for beneficiaries and spell out how a trustee manages or distributes it under the terms you establish.
Read the trust guide →
Estate planning
See the whole picture.
Bring your will, trust, powers of attorney, health-care wishes, and other decisions into one coordinated plan.
Use the planning checklist →
A coordinated conversation
Bring the right advisers into the room.
Legal, tax, insurance, and financial considerations can overlap. A qualified attorney can help determine when other professionals should be part of the planning process.
Planning for people
Your estate plan is about the people who count on you.
A thoughtful plan can help you name the people you trust, care for different generations, and leave clearer instructions during an already difficult time.
A practical path
Planning is a series of decisions, not a single document.
- 01
Take stock
List what you own, what you owe, the people who depend on you, and the accounts that already have beneficiary designations.
- 02
Choose people carefully
Think through executors, trustees, guardians, health-care decision-makers, and backups. Talk with them before naming them.
- 03
Create documents that work together
A will, trust, powers of attorney, health-care documents, beneficiary designations, and asset titles can each play a different role.
- 04
Keep it current
Review after a marriage, divorce, birth, death, move, major purchase, business change, or a meaningful change in the law.
For attorneys and firms
Share useful guidance with people who are ready to plan.
We are building an editorial home for attorney-reviewed articles and practical explanations. Help readers understand the questions to ask before they seek legal advice.
Why planning matters
When there is no plan, there is still a process.
The difference is that more of the important choices may be made by default rules, a court, or the practical limits facing the people left behind.
No guardian nomination
A court may need to decide who will care for minor children if no legally effective nomination is in place.
More pressure on loved ones
Family members may need to locate records, open an estate, satisfy creditors, and make difficult choices with less direction.
Assets can pass differently
Joint ownership, beneficiary designations, and trust-owned property may pass outside a will—sometimes with results that surprise families.
Inheritance, probate, guardianship, creditor, tax, and trust rules differ by state and circumstances. A qualified attorney can explain how the rules apply to you.