Wills vs. Living Trusts: What Each Document Does
Wills and revocable living trusts both direct where property goes at death, but they differ on probate, privacy, incapacity, and cost. Most complete estate plans end up using both.
Primer
Estate & Probate Law
Wills, trusts, incapacity planning, probate administration, and transfer taxes.
Estate planning answers two questions nobody enjoys asking: who decides if you can't, and who receives what when you're gone. The documents are short; the consequences of missing ones are not. And because probate is run by state courts under state statutes, the "right" plan in one state can be needlessly expensive in another.
These primers cover the working parts — wills, living trusts, powers of attorney, health-care directives — and the processes families actually face: probate administration, executor duties, and the federal and state transfer taxes that apply to larger estates.
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Start with the wills-versus-trusts comparison to see what each document actually does — most misconceptions begin there. The incapacity-planning guide covers the documents every adult needs regardless of wealth.
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The Probate Process: A Step-by-Step Guide for Families and Executors
Probate is the court-supervised process of validating a will, paying a decedent's debts, and distributing what remains. Here is what executors and families can expect at each step — and when probate can be skipped.
Powers of Attorney and Health Care Directives: Planning for Incapacity
A practical guide to incapacity planning: durable powers of attorney, living wills, health care proxies, and the state-law rules that determine whether these documents actually work when needed.
Federal Estate and Gift Tax Basics — and Why State Rules Still Matter
What the federal estate and gift tax actually reaches in 2026 — the $15 million exclusion, $19,000 annual gifts, portability, filing rules — and the state estate and inheritance taxes that hit far smaller estates.
Revocable and Irrevocable Trusts: Control Traded for Protection
A revocable trust keeps you in charge but shields nothing. An irrevocable trust can move assets outside your estate and reach of creditors, but only if you genuinely give up control. Here is how the trade-off works.
Contesting a Will: Capacity, Undue Influence, and Procedure
Will contests succeed on narrow grounds — lack of capacity, undue influence, fraud, or defective execution — and only for people with standing who file within a short statutory window.
Dying Without a Will: How Intestate Succession Distributes an Estate
When someone dies without a valid will, a state statute — not the family — decides who inherits, in a fixed order that differs sharply between community-property and common-law states.
Special Needs Trusts: Preserving Benefits While Providing Support
A special needs trust lets a person with a disability receive support without losing means-tested benefits — but first-party and third-party trusts follow very different rules on age, payback, and funding.
Charitable Giving Vehicles: Bequests, Trusts, and Donor-Advised Funds
Charitable remainder and lead trusts, donor-advised funds, private foundations, and simple bequests each trade deduction, control, and complexity differently. Matching vehicle to goal matters more than gift size.
Digital Assets in Estate Planning: Access, Authority, and Platform Rules
Digital accounts are governed by a mix of state fiduciary access law, platform terms of service, and federal computer-crime statutes. Planning means granting authority in the right place, in the right order.
Elder Financial Abuse: Warning Signs and Legal Protections
Financial exploitation of older adults is addressed through state adult protective services, bank and broker reporting rules, and civil remedies. Knowing which channel does what makes a response far more effective.
Estate Planning for Blended Families: Competing Claims and Fixes
Second marriages create competing claims that default rules handle badly. Elective shares, beneficiary designations, and trust structures decide whether a spouse and children from a prior marriage are both provided for.