A will goes into effect when the testator, the person who created the will passes away. And the will basically says where your property goes when you pass away. You name your executor, the person who will carry out the terms of the will in probate court and you will name most importantly your beneficiaries.

An important thing to note is that if you have minor beneficiaries you can name a custodian for accounts that would be for the minor’s benefit. You could name a trust. You could essentially say that the minor beneficiaries’ assets will be held in a trust. The problem there with creating a trust through a will is that you will have created a testamentary trust and that will be a trust subject to court jurisdiction whereas when you have a living trust, a stand alone trust, your trust is administered outside of court.

In your will, you will normally name guardians for your children as well. The guardian of the person is the person who will be taking care of your kids, make sure they are eating well and going to school and all that important parental stuff.

But, that’s essentially what a will does. It only says where your property goes at death whereas a trust can say where your property goes if something were to happen to you in life terms of incapacity and other videos will address what a trust can do for you.