Estate planning means planning and managing one’s property, assets, insurances and investments before one becomes disabled or dies so that the property will be better distributed and managed in accordance with the wishes of the person. Probate also helps contingency planning for instance in health care treatment and minimizes potential taxes and fees. In this regard, Estate planning is quite comprehensive and is much more than just a simple will.

Estate planning is a sophisticated way of managing one’s property well in advance of incapacity or death which helps the person to avoid conservatorship and probate imposed on this/ her property by the courts. A common technique used by one’s attorney-in-fact, who is often the person’s Successor Trustee as well, is to transfer property which is not currently held in his/her trust into the trust, so legal title to the property is held by the trust at the time of the person’s death. Both the trust and family limited partnership are legal entities which survive after the death of a person and property held by a Trust or a family limited partnership in legal title is held by that entity, and is thus not part of the person’s estate at the time of his/her death.

A trust is a well-recognized type of legal entity, which is used to hold legal title to property for the benefit of one or more persons. The person creating the trust is often known as the trust creator or grantor. The person or institution holding legal title to the property is called the Trustee. The persons who are intended to benefit from the trust are known as Beneficiaries.

The property that is transferred to a trust becomes the trust estate. A trust estate consists of all of the property, rights, and obligations that are transferred to the trust. The trust estate is managed in accordance with the terms and conditions of the document creating the trust.

There are typically three main parties to a trust: (1) The Trust Creator, sometimes called the Grantor or Settler, is the person who started out as owner of the property that is to be transferred to and held by the trust. (2) The Trustee is the person or financial institution (such as a bank or trust company) that holds the legal title to the trust estate. There may be one or more Trustees. If a Trustee is unwilling or unable to serve, then a successor Trustee steps in to hold and manage the Trust estate. The Trustee is obligated to act in accordance with the terms of the Trust for the benefit of the Trust beneficiaries. (3) The Beneficiaries are the persons who the Trust Creator intended to benefit from the Trust estate. The rights of the beneficiaries depend on the terms of the trust. Beneficiaries are said to have the "equitable title" to the property held in the trust.

Mostly the following people will need a trust: parents with young children, people with beneficiaries who need help, people who own property that is hard to divide, people who want to control their property because of family dynamics, and people concerned about estate taxes.

These two terms refer to a written document that sets forth the terms and conditions of the trust. The differences between them are largely matters of style and local practice. Typical provisions in a trust agreement or declaration of trust for an individual or married couple include the following: (1) a statement of the purpose of the trust,(2) the names of the trust creator's family members,(3) whether the trust creator, or anyone else, may amend or revoke the trust,(4) who will serve as the initial Trustee(s), and who would serve, and in what order, if the initial Trustee becomes unable or unwilling to serve, in the event of illness, death or for any other reason,(5) what powers the Trustee should have, in terms of investment and management, and what discretion the Trustee is to have in terms of releasing money to beneficiaries, such as for education,(6) who the beneficiaries of the trust are, or how to determine them; the trust creator and his or her spouse are typically beneficiaries in a "living" Trust,(7) who is to receive distribution of the trust estate upon the death of the grantor, and (8) when the beneficiaries would be entitled to receive the distributions, often at age 21, or half at age 21 and half at age 30.

Trusts come in a variety of forms and can be established in many different situations. Some common forms of Trusts include: (1) Asset Protection Trust,(2) Charitable Trust, (3) Constructive Trust,(4) Express Trust, (5) Implied Trust, (6) Inter Vivos Trust, (7) Irrevocable Trust, (8) "Living" Trust, (9) Resulting Trust, (10) Special Needs Trust, (11) Spendthrift Trust, (12) Tax By-Pass Trust, (13) Testamentary Trust, and (14) Totten Trust, Many trusts themselves establish "sub-trusts ". For example, a revocable "living" trust might establish spendthrift trust and a tax by-pass trust upon the death of the first. Trusts can be structured to handle a variety of situations but careful drafting is essential to make the plan work.

A trust is a process of transferring one’s property to an artificial legal entity or "person" before one’s death, while still having the use and/or control of it during one’s lifetime. In the event of testator’s death the property does not have to go to probate as the legal title to the property will continue to be owned by trust. Creation of a trust is advantageous as it is less expensive.

A trust is one of the major estate planning tools used for a grantor's property so that court interference in the event of incapacity or death can be minimized. A trust continues despite the incapacity or death of the grantor and a successor Trustee can step in and take over management, in the event of the creator of the trust becomes disabled and thereby avoid a conservatorship. The successor Trustee can pay bills and taxes, and promptly distribute the Trust assets to the beneficiaries, without court supervision, which again helps to avoid probate. A trust is a private document that helps one to maintain financial privacy. Again, a trust helps to keep certain property separate from other property and thereby avoid commingling of different properties belonging to the same owner.

A will is a written document, generally prepared with the help of an attorney, which provides instructions for the disposition of a decedent's (dead person's) property. The term "Last Will and Testament" is simply a more complicated name for a will.

A will is a formal way of setting forth one’s wishes regarding how a person would like his/her property distributed upon his/her death. Anyone who wants to distribute his/her property upon his/her death or anyone who wants to determine who will handle matters for those left behind, should have a will.

A will needs to be prepared and properly executed at the time when the intending person has mental competence to understand the terms and stipulations of the will. In will words, the person making the will should possess the legal capacity to do so. A will has to be signed by the principal and witnesses.

Although a death-bed will may be just as valid and binding, the closer to the death the will is prepared the more likely it is to be challenged by a disappointed beneficiary thus leading to a Will Contest, possibly on the grounds that the person lacked mental capacity to make a will or was subjected to undue influence. A last minute will also raises the potential hazard of errors and non- compliance of legal requirements due to hasty preparation. There is also another possibility of the will not distributing the property in the manner that the person really wanted, or failed to take advantage of some features that can bring down the federal estate tax, etc.

A validly prepared and properly executed will is valid until the person making it intentionally revokes it or prepares and executes a new will that revokes the previous will. In addition, a change in marital status, such as a divorce, also may impact provisions in a will as it alters beneficiary designations.

The chances of fraud or misunderstanding are generally high in an Oral Will and such a will is only recognized when made by members of the military or merchant marine in active service in time of conflict, or when the person making the will does not have time to prepare a written will and have it properly executed. Generally, the law prefers a will in writing rather than an Oral Will.

A Living Will is the popular name for a document spelling out the general kinds of medical care a person opts for in the event he/she became unable to communicate with his/ her health care providers. A Living Will is also known as “medical directive” or “medical declaration”. It does not impact who gets your property or who is your personal representative or guardian of your minor children.

If the person is mentally competent, he /she can revoke a prior will by destroying it, obliterating it, burning it, or tearing it up. However, this has to be done with caution as unless the act of revocation is properly witnessed and recorded, someone may later contend the will was simply “lost” and not revoked, or that the person lacked mental competence at the time he/she “attempted” to revoke the will. This could again give rise to a “Will Contest”. Also, a change in the marital status may revoke part of a will relating to the person’s former spouse.

The effect of divorce on a will varies in accordance with the state law. In some states, a divorce decree automatically revokes the entire will, while in others, the will itself is not revoked but it revokes only those provisions that made gifts to the former spouse. Either way, any property arrangements in a will or other document, such as a life insurance policy or a bank account should always be reexamined in the event of a divorce. Often, these matters may be required to be addressed as part of any divorce agreement or court decree.

In general, the reasons for changing or updating a will are marriage or divorce, birth or adoption of child, death of a family member or beneficiary, change in the nature of the property holdings, substantial change in the value of the estate, or a Guardian or Executor or Trustee moves away, dies, or is no longer willing or able to serve, etc. In addition to this, the person making the will may move to another state or wish to eliminate gifts to certain beneficiaries, and changes in the federal estate tax laws or state tax laws also warrant a change or update of the will.

Typical provisions of a Last Will and Testament include name of the person making the will or the testator, if the testator is married, the name of the testator's spouse and date of marriage, name of all of the testator's children revocation of all prior will, special gifts, nomination of the Personal Representative and alternates, powers that are to be given the Personal Representative (often defined as those provided under state statute), and waiver of the surety bond requirement.

A hand written Will and Testament, which is signed by the testator/ maker of the will is called a holographic will and testament. Legal requirements of a holographic will may vary from state to state. Sometimes a holographic will is better than no will at all, sometimes it is not. If the holographic will creates an ambiguity or an unintended result, then it would have been better to have no will at all.

A pour-over will is a particular type of will used in conjunction with a trust. Most people intentionally do not put all their property into the trust; sometimes it is just for convenience. Most often people forget to put newly acquired property into a trust on an on-going basis. A pour-over will is a creation to prevent an inter estate and it includes all those properties which had been knowingly or unknowingly left out of the trust at the time of one’s death.

Self-probating wills comes with attached affidavits of the witnesses. The attached affidavit by the witnesses state that the witness saw the deceased execute or sign the will, the deceased asked them to be witnesses to the will, he or she appeared mentally competent at the time, and acted voluntarily. Such affidavits help to confirm the validity of the will.

Yes. The will shall be considered good. The main concern while testing the validity of the will is, whether the maker of the will was mentally competent whilst creation of the will. It only becomes important if the person having an unstable mind wants to change the will at a later date.

A will, which is considered to be a valid one by the former state of residence, generally, shall be consistently regarded as valid by the laws of the new state. Sometimes the change of law shall turn out to be advantageous to the will and sometimes disadvantageous. Therefore, it is advisable to consult a wills attorney in the new state to find out the change of law with regard to wills.

A type of litigation challenging the admission of a will to probate is called a will contest. Generally will contests are brought under the following grounds: that the maker of the will lacked mental capacity, that the will maker was subjected to fraud, coercion or undue influence, that there are ambiguities in the document, or that the will is a forgery or does not conform to legal requirements as to the number and nature of the witnesses.

A will is a crucial document in one’s life; thus, great care has to be observed while preparing the will. Initially, a lawyer’s guidance should be acquired while drafting the will in order to assure its accuracy. Next, informing the lawyer about the anticipation of a challenge will help in taking extra care. The lawyer may ask a physician to evaluate the testator’s mental competence. They may videotape the execution of the will and may incorporate precautionary provisions which would ultimately shield the will from future challenges.

The Personal Representative of the estate is the person who is entrusted with the duty to execute the will. The Personal Representative is otherwise called the administrator or executor. His responsibilities ranges from gathering and listing all of the testator's property at the time of his or her death, determining the testator’s outstanding debts, paying off the testator’s legitimate debts, and then distributing the remaining property in accordance with the instructions provided in the will.

A will alone does not necessarily reduce federal estate tax. However, as such taxes begin at 37% and reach 45% in 2007--2009, and are the highest in the federal tax arsenal, estate planning can often take advantage of tax avoidance techniques that would not be available to one’s family if he or she dies without a will.

No. No matter who has been chosen as beneficiaries in a will, the person or persons properly designated as the beneficiary(ies) of the testator’s life insurance policy, a payable-on-death bank account, an IRA, or 401(k) or other retirement plan -- typically by filing the beneficiary designation with the company or plan sponsor -- governs.

In order to update the will, the person shall either prepare and execute a new will which will revoke the earlier will or prepare and execute a codicil to the previous will. A codicil is a separate document that adds to and/or replaces one or more provisions in an existing Will.

Objection to a will or production of another will is called a “Will Contest”. To contest a will the most important factor is the person who contests should have “standing” to object. Thus, any person who possesses a proper standing to contest a will can object. One example is a child who was cut out of the will by an angry parent.

Since the executor is bound to carry out the terms of will and obey the laws of the state, persons having people skills and the competence and maturity to do the job well are to be selected. Attorneys or accountants are obvious choices, though their services can be taped if there are complex legal, taxes, and accounting issues involved. It is always better to consider an executor who has a personal interest in the family and is familiar with the affairs of the person intending to make a will.