In this concise, conversational video, host Mark Kohler and attorney Matt walk viewers through the fundamentals of estate planning, contrasting wills and trusts. They begin by noting that half of Americans lack a will and explain that a will simply designates who inherits assets and who will be a guardian for minor children, but it often requires probate—a public, costly, and time‑consuming court process. They discuss holographic wills, which in 46 states can be handwritten and signed without witnesses, and stress that even a simple will is still needed as a "bookend" to a trust. The discussion then shifts to trusts, highlighting their ability to specify not just who receives assets but also when and under what conditions, allowing for protective provisions (e.g., age or behavior clauses), charitable goals, and privacy since trusts avoid probate and remain out of public record. They note that trusts can be named creatively (e.g., Green Tree Trust) and can hold diverse assets such as brokerage accounts and crypto. Cost concerns are addressed: while some firms charge $5‑10k, a typical revocable trust can be set up for around $3,000 with occasional discounts, making it accessible even to non‑wealthy clients. Matt emphasizes that revocable trusts—used by 99% of their clients—can be amended cheaply as life circumstances change, whereas irrevocable trusts promoted on TikTok are discouraged. The video concludes with a call to action, directing viewers to their boutique law firm for personalized estate‑planning services.
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Fifty percent of Americans don't even have a will. This is not something that should fall on deaf ears. I know there's going to be many of you listening today that are like, I got to get this done. What do I need to know? So we're going to break it down. Matt, let's go hard. Will versus trust. I'll be Matt, you'll be PC. Tell us about the will. You good about that?
The will is the PC here, but that's fair. The boring PC. The will says who gets your stuff when you die. It at least does that. So that's one feature of the will. I can keep going if you'd like.
Yeah, you name a few. Get your sales pitch.
Here's the other thing that I like about the you can designate who is the guardian of your children after you pass away. Really critical for any of you that have minor children to say who is going to take care of them when I pass away.
Okay, we'll just rip on the will for a minute. A will can also be holographic. I mean, at the very least, I would recommend all of you sit down this weekend and hand write out a will, which means holographic. You can't, you know, do it on word process or print it out. You've got to hand write it out. Get a couple witnesses, but at least say who gets what, who gets what, who's going to raise my kids, what else?
Yeah, and even the holographic, I'll say in 46 states, as long as it's in your handwriting and signed by you, you don't even need witnesses. But in the other states you do. Here's where the will starts breaking down, though. There's not much left. If you want to have a lot of other features and bells and whistles, you're going to need to roll over to the trust after you say who gets what. There's not a lot of great features. Here's the problem, though, that most people don't like about the will and why they do a trust instead of, you're going to probate with that will. Just because I have a will that sign that says who gets my stuff? Doesn't mean we get to go carry that out and do it. You still have to take the will to the judge and get the judge's stamp of approval to say, I approve this will. And they'll issue these things called letters, testamentary. That allows the executor of the will to then distribute the assets. It's public, it's not great. And that Probate process is not only going to cost you money, but it's also going to take more time and it's very inflexible.
I like that. One last thing. And I think this is a good transition. Even if you do get a trust, you have to have a will.
Yes.
A will is kind of the bookend of a trust because we want to designate who the guardians might be, who that executor might be and then that opens the door to the trust. I'm going to riff a little on the trust.
Love it.
The trust. What's nice about the trust, it not only says who gets what, it says when and how. So now we can put on strings, conditions, provisions, and we can really screw up our kids life after we die as well, during our lives.
Why stop all the fun, you know? So obviously we're trying to protect our kids. Right. And that's the purpose of the trust. We want to of course, designate who gets what so they're not left guessing. For those of you who don't even have a freaking estate plan or even a will. But we also want to say at what point do they get it? If you pass on and you have an 18 year old child, they can inherit your assets. That's kind of scary. And so we want to say what conditions do they get on? What if they have a drug or alcohol addiction? Do they need to deal with that before they get any inheritance for the trust? What if they are 20 years old? Do you want them getting a third of your estate? If you have three kids?
No. Absolutely. And even, and I know many of you are either single and no kids and the trust gives you a lot of creative options. You can create your own charity within the provisions of a trust and say, here's where I want my assets to go. I want my trustee to create a charity that does the following. Or I want them to find a charity that does this. Or I'd like to leave my money to some nieces and nephews. I want to do this, I want to do that. This is your chance to write your book of where all this legacy goes. Like all this hard work and money goes. And the trust allows you that flexibility. Now back to the probate. I got to have lawyers involved with the trust. Right. And it's going to cost a ton of.
Yeah, just at the front end, just for a little bit to get the plan and the trust done. But the nice thing is is once you pass on that trust lives on. The trustee of the trust we'll talk about here in A second gets to carry on. You don't need to go to a judge. You don't need a stamp of approval. The trust carries on, and all the conditions and restrictions you put in there are what's going to protect your assets and your loved ones so that the. So that this legacy that we're trying to create is business owners, entrepreneurs, investors, people trying to build and grow wealth. We want to have a legacy. And if you don't plan for it and the not only the who, but the how and under what conditions, you leave a disaster instead of a legacy. So all this how is really important. But I'll say one other thing that I love about the trust.
Oh, okay. Keep going.
I just want to be a Mac, too.
You know, I got one, too.
All right. Maybe an ipod. Geez. I mean, come on. You go for it. It's private.
Oh, I was gonna stay. Yeah, I'm gonna take that now. Yeah. The trust is going. The trust isn't this fun. You never thought it'd be this fun listening to trust in wills. What's cool about a trust is you get to give it an innocuous name. I'm gonna call it the Green Tree Trust, the Blue Sky Trust. And on a lot of the property you hold, it could even be brokerage accounts, crypto, or other things, not just real estate. You're not. You're not gonna have your name out there. And when you die, your will is not public. You know, Robin Williams, who passed away a few years ago? All he had was a will, and it was. It's been in court.
I mean, everybody got to see his assets and how many assets he got, and who did he leave it to and not leave it to, and what kid was disinherited. Do you want that after you pass away? I don't think so. And, you know, the nosy neighbors and all your other family members and some of your haters, you know, I don't know, the. The ex spouse, whatever. You know, do you really want them all digging into that? No, you don't. So let's get in a trust that stays outside of court. And also, I think it's less contestable because of that, because in the. In the probate process, there's, like, a contest, period, where someone could come in and be like, oh, they promised me this. But a trust is out of court. It's a lot more private. It's a little more chill. Yeah.
Now, let's just talk about price for a moment. We talked about the will being simple and easy. I mean, Heck, you could even do a holographic will on your own. So that's very, very affordable. But it's a myth.
The.
The. The trust has to be really, really expensive. You might see places out there charging five or ten grand, and they kind of base their price based on what your wealth is. But you don't have to be rich to have a trust. In fact, many, many people need it just with having some life insurance and a home and some family or not. And so the price point could be around $3,000. We have a special every year to bring that down. Usually throw up to $500 off. And we want to make sure it's easy, simple, and affordable.
And once you get that estate plan done, keep in mind, it's done. You don't have to do an annual fee. You only need to go back to it when you want to make a change. And this is a revocable trust, okay? Don't do these irrevocable trusts you see on TikTok. Those are BS, okay? You need a revocable trust. That's what I have. That's what Mark has. That's what we're doing for 99% of our clients. And we can change it whenever we want because life happens. You might need to disinherit a kid. You might have a kid that gets divorced. You might get divorced yourself. You might get remarried. Your financial situation might change. And you might not be willing to give so much to charity that you were before. Who knows? But the nice thing about these trusts is it can be changed. And an easy amendment that can be very inexpensive and cost you only a few hundred bucks to just change little provisions here as you need.
Well, thanks so much. I hope you love this quick little summary on the difference between a will and a trust. Please see down below a link to our website where we have lawyers that help clients all over the country. Very personal. We're just a little boutique firm and have been doing this for years. And we love helping people build their legacy.
Yeah. And just remember, if you don't have an estate plan, you're planning for disaster. That is your plan. For those of you don't have a freaking estate plan in place, you haven't gone through this process. We're here to help you take care of it.
