A will allows you to designate who is to receive certain property you now own and who will be responsible (called a personal representative or sometimes executor) to make sure your wishes are followed.  While state law designates who may inherit from you in the event you did not have a will, you very likely wish to state who should receive what specific property of yours, upon your passing.  In your will, you can also designate who you wish to be your children’s guardian if they are minors (under age 18 and the other parent in unavailable to care for them) and also create a trust within the will to hold property for the minor children until they become adults and designate who will oversee that trust.

A revocable living trust is a document created by you while you are living that allows you to “revoke” it (change it) while you are alive and mentally competent, for any reason.  Upon death, it generally becomes irrevocable (not able to be changed).  By creating a revocable trust, you (the grantor) name a person (the trustee) to manage the property in your trust.  This person will likely be you while you are living and then the person or persons acting together you have named, upon your passing.  The people (the beneficiaries) you name in your trust will receive the income from the property and/or the property as you designated in the language of the trust.  You can provide for your minor children.  In addition, if you become unable to manage your property while you are alive, the person you designate as your trustee, may manage your property for you.  With a revocable trust you can avoid going through probate, keep your matters confidential and often shorten the period of time between your passing and distribution of your property to your beneficiaries.  What a trust of this type won’t do, is save you from paying tax, protect you from creditors claims, or avoid nursing home costs.

While no one wants to dwell on what life will be like without being able to make your own decisions, it is important to prepare in case it happens.  You can do that by having a “power of attorney” in place that designates someone to make decisions for your health care and financial (durable) matters.  In the event you become incapable of making your own health care decisions, the person you designate will make your health care decisions for you.  A durable power of attorney allows someone to make financial decisions, such as payment of bills and transfer of property.  In the event you do not have, what are referred to as “powers of attorney” in place, your family may be required to go through the courts to determine who will have the ability to make decisions for you.  Planning ahead can eliminate hours of frustration for your family, significant expense and result in the person you designated, making the decisions you want them to make.

You can also designate to your medical care team the extent of which you want to be treated medically.  This is called a “declaration to physicians”.  In the past it may have been referred to as a “living will”.  It leaves a record to your doctor as to what extent you wish them to perform life prolonging medical treatment.