Wills, Trusts & Probate

Use your estate plan to leave important instructions about your property, children, and health care.

What is the difference between a revocable living trust and a will? And which should you make?

How to protect beneficiaries from themselves.

Without the right estate planning, your partner could be left out in the cold.

Many people don't need a lawyer to create a living trust.

Here are the few simple steps you need to take to create your will.

When you leave money or property for a child to inherit, arrange for someone to manage it.

If you’re trying to make sense of a will or trust, don’t feel bad if you don’t know what a lot of the words mean.

You may pay an estate planning attorney by the hour or by the task.

An introduction to living trusts—a popular way to avoid probate.

Revocable living trusts are a popular estate planning tool that you can use to determine who will get your property when you die.

For the greatest benefit, hold your most valuable property items in your living trust.

The durable financial power of attorney is a simple way to arrange for someone to handle your finances.

Almost everyone can benefit from a durable power of attorney for finances.

Sometimes a bank or financial institution won’t accept your POA. What then?

Put your health care wishes in writing, in case you are ever unable to speak for yourself.

Health care directives allow you to inform medical professionals and family members about what kind of care you want when you can't communicate those wishes yourself.

Use a living will to leave instructions about your health care.

How to include online accounts and digital files in your estate plan.

Make sure your executor or another trusted person can find the passwords and usernames for your digital accounts.

Help your family -- and make your executor's job easier -- by getting your paperwork in order.

State laws control who inherits property if no will exists. Learn the general guidelines.

Your closest relatives, including your spouse, may have a right to claim part of your estate.

What happens if you die without a will? Learn about intestacy in California.

Learn the most popular ways of avoiding probate.

Payable-on-death bank accounts offer an easy way to keep money—even large sums of it—out of probate.

Both a transfer on death deed and a living trust can keep your real estate out of probate, so which should you use?

Very few estates—only those larger than $13.99 million—might owe federal estate tax.

Only five states still impose an inheritance tax.

Quick answers to basic questions about estate and gift tax.