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A will is a written document—signed and witnessed—that indicates how your property will be distributed at the time of your death. It is revocable and subject to amendment at any time during your lifetime. It also allows you to appoint a guardian for your minor children. 

A living trust provides lifetime and after-death property management. If you are serving as your own trustee, the trust instrument will provide for a successor upon your death or incapacity. Court intervention is not required. Livings trusts also are used to manage property. If a person is disabled by accident or illness, the successor trustee can manage the trust property. As a result, the expense, publicity, and inconvenience of court-supervised distribution of your estate can be avoided.

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A beneficiary designation is the person selected by an owner of a retirement account to inherit the retirement account balance. The beneficiary must be a person or a trust of individuals and should not be an estate or a charity. 

Beneficiary designations are common with life insurance, pensions, IRAs and 401(k) plans. When you name a beneficiary on these accounts, upon your passing the accounts are distributed directly to your beneficiary without going through probate. Your will does not determine who will receive these benefits.

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