Wills are Public. Trusts are Private.

26 Jan 2023 · 1 min

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In this brief explanatory video, the speaker contrasts the public accessibility of a probated will with the confidentiality of a trust by using two high‑profile examples: Whitney Houston’s last will, which becomes a public court record after probate, and Michael Jackson’s trust, which remains entirely private and visible only to the grantor and beneficiaries. The narration outlines how wills must go through a court process that makes the document, the asset inventory, and the distribution details publicly available, whereas a trust bypasses probate, keeping its terms and distributions confidential. The segment serves to illustrate why many estate planners recommend trusts for privacy and streamlined asset transfer.

Chapters

You're looking at a copy of Whitney Houston's last will and testament. Now, you might ask, Jerry, how are you able to get a copy of Whitney Houston's will? Thank you for asking. Every will must go through a court process to be legally enforceable. Every will that goes through the process is publicly available. Everything about the process is publicly available, including the inventory of assets. In other words, everything that is going to be distributed to the heirs. Now, let's look at another celebrity, Michael Jackson. Michael Jackson had a trust prepared. Here is Michael Jackson's trust. That's right, there's nothing there because a trust is totally private. A trust is totally private and no one has access to it but you and your heirs, which means that whatever you write in your trust is private. And all the distributions to your heirs, if you have a trust, will be done in total confidence.