“Do I need a will or a trust?” is one of the most common questions we hear. The honest answer is that it depends on your family, what you own and what you want to happen. That’s a conversation for a Georgia-licensed attorney.
What we can do is help you walk in prepared. This guide is general education: what each document is, what usually happens without it, and the questions worth bringing to the attorney’s office.
Leaf Planning does not provide legal advice and does not prepare legal documents. Wills, trusts and powers of attorney are prepared by an independent Georgia-licensed attorney.
The four documents most Georgia families talk about
A last will and testament
A will says who receives what’s in your name alone, who you want to handle your estate (often called the executor), and who you’d want to raise any minor children.
In Georgia, a will generally must be signed by the person making it and by two witnesses. After a loss, the original will is filed with the probate court in the county where the person lived, and that court oversees the process called probate.
Without a will, Georgia law decides who inherits, and the probate court appoints someone to handle the estate. Family members don’t always agree with the result.
A revocable living trust
A living trust is a document that holds property while you’re alive, with you usually in charge, and says who receives it after a loss. Property that is actually titled in the name of the trust generally doesn’t go through probate.
A trust only controls what is put into it. A house that was never retitled into the trust may still go through probate. That’s one of the most common gaps families run into.
A durable financial power of attorney
A financial power of attorney names someone to handle your money and paperwork if you can’t, for example after a stroke or with dementia. Georgia adopted a newer power of attorney law in 2017, including a statutory form. Under that law, a power of attorney generally stays in effect if you become incapacitated, unless the document says otherwise.
Without one, a family may need to ask the probate court to appoint someone, which takes time and money. A power of attorney ends when the person passes. After that, the will and the estate take over.
A Georgia Advance Directive for Health Care
Georgia combines the health care agent and the living will into one form, the Georgia Advance Directive for Health Care. It names who makes medical decisions for you if you can’t, and records your wishes about end-of-life treatment. The state’s Division of Aging Services publishes the form and instructions.
Without one, doctors and family may be left guessing at the hardest moment.
When a will may be enough, and when families ask about a trust
There’s no one answer. But these situations often lead families to ask an attorney whether a trust makes sense:
- You own real estate in more than one state. Each state may have its own probate process.
- A family member has special needs and receives benefits that could be affected by an inheritance.
- You want to keep things private. A will that goes through probate generally becomes part of the court record.
- You’d like your family to avoid probate for certain property.
- You have a blended family and want to be sure children from an earlier marriage are provided for.
- You want an inheritance paid out over time rather than all at once.
For some families, a will, current beneficiary forms, a power of attorney and an advance directive cover what they need. Others choose a trust. Only the attorney can tell you which fits.
Questions to bring to the attorney
Write these down and take them with you:
- Based on what I own, is a will enough for my family, or should I consider a trust?
- What will go through probate, and what will pass around it?
- Who should I name to handle my estate, and who as a backup?
- If I have a trust, what has to be retitled into it, and who does that?
- Do my beneficiary forms work with the will or trust you’re recommending?
- What happens if one of my beneficiaries passes before me?
- How does my power of attorney work, and when would my agent use it?
- Have you reviewed my advance directive, and does my health care agent have a copy?
- How should the signed originals be stored, and who should know where they are?
- What is your fee, and what does it include?
A reminder that ties to question 5: your life insurance and retirement accounts usually go to whoever is named on the beneficiary form, not the will. Our guide on why your beneficiary form matters more than your will explains why.
What to bring to that first meeting
The meeting goes faster when you bring:
- Any existing will, trust, power of attorney or advance directive
- The deed to your home and titles to vehicles
- Recent statements for bank and retirement accounts
- Your life insurance policies
- A list of the people you want to include, with full names
Our guide on how to inventory your accounts helps you put most of this on one page.
How the Assist Program helps
Leaf Cremation has served more than 5,000 Georgia families, and we’re the ones at the table after a loss. We see what happens when the papers are missing, and when they’re in order.
The Assist Program organizes, educates and coordinates. We sit down with you, locate what you already have, inventory your accounts, confirm your beneficiaries and make a list of what’s missing. If a will, trust or power of attorney is missing or out of date, we help you get it done with a Georgia-licensed attorney, and we keep the signed documents on file so your family can find them. Read more on wills, trusts and power of attorney.
It’s the companion to burial insurance, a small whole life insurance policy that pays your family in days. Burial insurance answers “how will it be paid for?” The Assist Program answers “who handles everything else?” See how burial insurance works.
Get help from the Assist Program
If you’d like help getting organized before you meet with an attorney, leave your name and number below. Someone from the Assist Program will call you back.