My mother just died with a living trust......a BUNCH easier to navigate than a will...in ALL respects.
Having a will and maybe the right kind of trust can be psychologically liberating. You have a plan and it is one that you choose.
One might get away with just a will, where assets are few, but most lawyers would recommend having both a will and a revocable ("living") trust for those with a moderate level of assets. A revocable trust can be changed at any time by the grantor while he or she is still living, which is why it is called a living trust.
BTW, be careful of lawyers and "consultants from out of town" who invite you a free seminar to pitch living trusts. They sell these like "boiler room" stock salesman, with no regard to what you actually need. It is a scam. Use someone who cares about you and explains the pros and cons.
As for the will, I always say that the most critical part of a will is to appoint your choice as guardian of your minor children, so that their custody and assets will not end up in the hands of some crony of a probate judge. I have seen that done.
Second most useful, the will collects and disposes of all the residuary (left over) assets not covered elsewhere, such as all the assets that you never quite got around to transferring to the trust. (The trust actually has to own title, whether it is your house, your classic car collection or your guns.)
Then there are other provisions, such as payment of debts and taxes, and the boilerplate provisions that afford flexibility, cut costs of administering the estate, etc. They need to be done well in compliance with laws of your jurisdiction(s). Don't be like the famous Dorrance family, owners of Campbell's Soup, that got taxed double � by two different states � due to completely avoidable bad planning.
The revocable trust allows assets that are put in the name of the trust (very important) to be transferred privately at death, without going through the publicly disclosed probate estate administered by a probate court. Most people like that. Do you want your asset dispositions to be on public court record?
A revocable trust does not mean that there is any tax avoidance. All assets are still taxable � but the transfers are private.
For a more substantial estate, good tax planning that can actually reduce taxes would include IRREVOCABLE (permanent transfer) trust or trusts, an estate plan that includes a program of gifts to family and friends, maybe charitable gifts and trusts and possibly insurance to cover tax payments..
Quite a lot of people these days have total assets in the $1.5 to 10 million range, where tax planning becomes very important.
North of $10 million are many with family businesses, etc., who could use other help such as business succession planning. For that, a good business lawyer who knows public stock offerings, company acquisitions and dispositions, etc., is needed. There is even more that you can do, such as planning very long term "dynasty" trusts to build assets for several generations. For that, you definitely want a so-called corporate trustee, a company that specializes in administering trusts. I like using a private trust company, not a bank, for this. You can set up the trusts and the trust administrator in a state with more flexible laws, of which there are several. They often are cheaper and offer more personalized attention. they can even help with teaching younger family members how not to be wastrels.
In fact, I am thinking about getting into that private trust company business myself, since there is such a demand for those who do it well, and since I need to relocate back to the US as my own kids prepare for college. Most likely I will end up in one of the western states, since they have the best trust laws, and they can service clients from anywhere, even abroad.
Northern Trust in Chicago has an extremely nice free book on estate planning that was written by a great tax lawyer who is a friend of mine. I give copies to my clients. I do wills and trusts myself, mainly for cross-border families with assets in more than one country. That quickly becomes somewhat complex.
I almost forgot to mention that having a separate "gun trust" to assure that your valuable shooting stuff is held properly and cannot be confiscated, due to being left to minors or others ineligible to possess guns, can also be critical. There are several lawyers that I know who are experts in setting up such trusts. These trusts can also offer privacy and the ability to own automatic weapons and restricted items. Who wouldn't like to own a nice tommy gun?
