What’s better? A will or a trust?

I often get asked which is better, a will or a trust. And I would follow up by asking better for what? You see, wills and trusts are legal tools used by estate planners to help our clients achieve their goals.

Take, for example, a screwdriver. A screwdriver is great at driving screws, but they’re not so great for driving nails. Clearly, a hammer would be much better at driving nails than a screwdriver would. Now, could I use a screwdriver to drive a nail if I wanted to? Sure, but it would not be a very efficient way to do so. Likewise, wills and trusts are good at certain things and not so great at other things.

So what are trusts good at? Trusts are very good at transferring property, for example, a house, but can’t be used to nominate a guardian for minor children. Wills, on the hand, can be used to nominate a guardian for minor children. Could a will be used to transfer a house? Sure, it can, but oftentimes it’s not the best way to do so. That’s why estate planners often use both a will and a trust when putting together an estate plan: different tools to do different jobs.