Will vs. Trust — What's the Difference?

Requires witnesses to be legally valid.

Allows for asset distribution without probate.

A document stating who will inherit assets.

A legal arrangement managing assets for beneficiaries.

Directs the executor on asset distribution.

Can specify conditions for asset distribution.

Legally enforces an individual's wishes posthumously.

Can be used to minimize estate taxes.

Can be revised as life circumstances change.

Offers privacy and avoids public record.

The mental faculty by which one deliberately chooses or decides upon a course of action

Firm belief in the integrity, ability, or character of a person or thing; confidence or reliance

Diligent purposefulness; determination

The condition and resulting obligation of having confidence placed in one

Self-control; self-discipline

One in which confidence is placed.

A desire, purpose, or determination, especially of one in authority

Custody; care

Deliberate intention or wish

Something committed into the care of another; a charge

Free discretion; inclination or pleasure

Reliance on something in the future; hope

Bearing or attitude toward others; disposition

Reliance on the intention and ability of a purchaser to pay in the future; credit

A legal declaration of how a person wishes their personal possessions to be disposed of after death.

A legal relationship in which one party holds a title to property while another party has the entitlement to the beneficial use of that property.

A legally executed document containing this declaration.

The confidence reposed in a trustee when giving the trustee legal title to property to administer for another, together with the trustee's obligation regarding that property and the beneficiary.

To decide on or intend

The property so held.

To yearn for; desire

An institution or organization directed by trustees

To decree, dictate, or order

A combination of firms or corporations for the purpose of reducing competition and controlling prices throughout a business or industry.

To induce or try to induce by sheer force of will

To have or place confidence in; depend on

To grant in a legal will; bequeath

To have confidence in allowing (someone) to use, know, or look after something

To order to direct in a legal will

To expect with assurance; assume

To exercise the will.

To give credence to; believe

To make a choice; choose

To place in the care of another person or in a situation deemed safe; entrust

To wish; desire

To extend credit to.

(auxiliary) Used to express the future tense, sometimes with some implication of volition when used in the first person. Compare shall.

To have or place reliance; depend

(auxiliary) To be able to, to have the capacity to.

To be confident; hope.

(auxiliary) Expressing a present tense with some conditional or subjective weakening: "will turn out to", "must by inference".

Confidence in or reliance on some person or quality.

(auxiliary) To habitually do (a given action).

Dependence upon something in the future; hope.

(auxiliary) To choose or agree to (do something); used to express intention but without any temporal connotations (+ bare infinitive), often in questions and negation.

Confidence in the future payment for goods or services supplied; credit.

To wish, desire (something).

That which is committed or entrusted; something received in confidence; a charge.

To wish or desire (that something happen); to intend (that).

That upon which confidence is reposed; ground of reliance; hope.

(archaic) Implying will go.

(rare) Trustworthiness, reliability.

To instruct (that something be done) in one's will.

The condition or obligation of one to whom anything is confided; responsible charge or office.

(transitive) To bequeath (something) to someone in one's will (legal document).

(legal) The confidence vested in a person who has legal ownership of a property to manage for the benefit of another.

(transitive) To exert one's force of will (intention) in order to compel, or attempt to compel, something to happen or someone to do something.

A group of businessmen or traders organised for mutual benefit to produce and distribute specific commodities or services, and managed by a central body of trustees.

One's independent faculty of choice; the ability to be able to exercise one's choice or intention.

(computing) Affirmation of the access rights of a user of a computer system.

The act of choosing to do something; a person’s conscious intent or volition.

(transitive) To place confidence in, to rely on, to confide in.

One's intention or decision; someone's orders or commands.

To have faith in; to rely on for continuing support or aid.

Firmity of purpose, fixity of intent

(transitive) To give credence to; to believe; to credit.

(law) A formal declaration of one's intent concerning the disposal of one's property and holdings after death; the legal document stating such wishes.

(transitive) To hope confidently; to believe (usually with a phrase or infinitive clause as the object)

(archaic) That which is desired; one's wish.

(transitive) to show confidence in a person by entrusting them with something.

(archaic) Desire, longing. (Now generally merged with later senses.)

(transitive) To commit, as to one's care; to entrust.

The power of choosing; the faculty or endowment of the soul by which it is capable of choosing; the faculty or power of the mind by which we decide to do or not to do; the power or faculty of preferring or selecting one of two or more objects.

(transitive) To give credit to; to sell to upon credit, or in confidence of future payment.

The choice which is made; a determination or preference which results from the act or exercise of the power of choice; a volition.

To rely on (something), as though having trust (on it).

The choice or determination of one who has authority; a decree; a command; discretionary pleasure.

To risk; to venture confidently.

Strong wish or inclination; desire; purpose.

(intransitive) To have trust; to be credulous; to be won to confidence; to confide.

That which is strongly wished or desired.

To sell or deliver anything in reliance upon a promise of payment; to give credit.

Arbitrary disposal; power to control, dispose, or determine.

(obsolete) Secure, safe.

The legal declaration of a person's mind as to the manner in which he would have his property or estate disposed of after his death; the written instrument, legally executed, by which a man makes disposition of his estate, to take effect after his death; testament; devise. See the Note under Testament, 1.

(obsolete) Faithful, dependable.

To wish; to desire; to incline to have.

(legal) of or relating to a trust.

As an auxiliary, will is used to denote futurity dependent on the verb. Thus, in first person, "I will" denotes willingness, consent, promise; and when "will" is emphasized, it denotes determination or fixed purpose; as, I will go if you wish; I will go at all hazards. In the second and third persons, the idea of distinct volition, wish, or purpose is evanescent, and simple certainty is appropriately expressed; as, "You will go," or "He will go," describes a future event as a fact only. To emphasize will denotes (according to the tone or context) certain futurity or fixed determination.

Assured resting of the mind on the integrity, veracity, justice, friendship, or other sound principle, of another person; confidence; reliance; reliance.

To be willing; to be inclined or disposed; to be pleased; to wish; to desire.

Credit given; especially, delivery of property or merchandise in reliance upon future payment; exchange without immediate receipt of an equivalent; as, to sell or buy goods on trust.

To form a distinct volition of; to determine by an act of choice; to ordain; to decree.

Assured anticipation; dependence upon something future or contingent, as if present or actual; hope; belief.

To enjoin or command, as that which is determined by an act of volition; to direct; to order.

That which is committed or intrusted to one; something received in confidence; charge; deposit.

To give or direct the disposal of by testament; to bequeath; to devise; as, to will one's estate to a child; also, to order or direct by testament; as, he willed that his nephew should have his watch.

The condition or obligation of one to whom anything is confided; responsible charge or office.

To exercise an act of volition; to choose; to decide; to determine; to decree.

That upon which confidence is reposed; ground of reliance; hope.

The capability of conscious choice and decision and intention;

An estate devised or granted in confidence that the devisee or grantee shall convey it, or dispose of the profits, at the will, or for the benefit, of another; an estate held for the use of another; a confidence respecting property reposed in one person, who is termed the trustee, for the benefit of another, who is called the cestui que trust.

A fixed and persistent intent or purpose;

An equitable right or interest in property distinct from the legal ownership thereof; a use (as it existed before the Statute of Uses); also, a property interest held by one person for the benefit of another. Trusts are active, or special, express, implied, constructive, etc. In a passive trust the trustee simply has title to the trust property, while its control and management are in the beneficiary.

A legal document declaring a person's wishes regarding the disposal of their property when they die

A business organization or combination consisting of a number of firms or corporations operating, and often united, under an agreement creating a trust (in sense 1), esp. one formed mainly for the purpose of regulating the supply and price of commodities, etc.; often, opprobriously, a combination formed for the purpose of controlling or monopolizing a trade, industry, or business, by doing acts in restraint or trade; as, a sugar trust. A trust may take the form of a corporation or of a body of persons or corporations acting together by mutual arrangement, as under a contract or a so-called gentlemen's agreement. When it consists of corporations it may be effected by putting a majority of their stock either in the hands of a board of trustees (whence the name trust for the combination) or by transferring a majority to a holding company. The advantages of a trust are partly due to the economies made possible in carrying on a large business, as well as the doing away with competition. In the United States severe statutes against trusts have been passed by the Federal government and in many States, with elaborate statutory definitions.

Decree or ordain;

Held in trust; as, trust property; trustmoney.

Have in mind;

To place confidence in; to rely on, to confide, or repose faith, in; as, we can not trust those who have deceived us.

Determine by choice;

To give credence to; to believe; to credit.

Leave or give by will after one's death;

To hope confidently; to believe; - usually with a phrase or infinitive clause as the object.

To show confidence in a person by intrusting (him) with something.

To commit, as to one's care; to intrust.

To give credit to; to sell to upon credit, or in confidence of future payment; as, merchants and manufacturers trust their customers annually with goods.

To risk; to venture confidently.

To have trust; to be credulous; to be won to confidence; to confide.

To be confident, as of something future; to hope.

To sell or deliver anything in reliance upon a promise of payment; to give credit.

Something (as property) held by one party (the trustee) for the benefit of another (the beneficiary);

Certainty based on past experience;

The trait of trusting; of believing in the honesty and reliability of others;

A consortium of independent organizations formed to limit competition by controlling the production and distribution of a product or service;

Complete confidence in a person or plan etc;

A trustful relationship;

Have confidence or faith in;

Allow without fear

Be confident about something;

Expect and wish;

Confer a trust upon;

Extend credit to

Individuals might choose a trust for privacy, to avoid probate, for tax benefits, or to protect assets from creditors.

If someone dies intestate (without a will), their assets are distributed according to state laws, potentially not aligning with their wishes.

Certain types of trusts can protect assets from creditors by legally removing the grantor's ownership of the assets.

A trust involves a grantor transferring assets into a legal entity, with a trustee managing these for the benefit of designated beneficiaries.

A testamentary trust is created by a will upon the grantor's death, managing assets for the benefit of the will's beneficiaries.

Having both can be beneficial, as they serve different purposes and complement each other in comprehensive estate planning.

Not all assets go through probate; those designated with beneficiaries or jointly owned often transfer directly to the named person.

A will primarily directs the distribution of an individual's assets after their death and can appoint guardians for dependents.

Yes, a will can include provisions to establish a trust upon the individual's death, known as a testamentary trust.

Revocable trusts can be altered or dissolved by the grantor during their lifetime, whereas irrevocable trusts generally cannot.

Trusts can offer estate tax benefits and, in some cases, reduce income taxes for the beneficiaries through distributed income.

Probate is the legal process of validating a will, paying debts, and distributing assets under court supervision.

Yes, a will can include personal wishes, such as funeral arrangements and the care of pets.

Wills become public record through probate, whereas trusts, being private arrangements, do not disclose details publicly.

An irrevocable trust cannot be modified after creation, often used for asset protection and tax benefits, as it removes the assets from the grantor's taxable estate.