Estate planning, explained in plain English
General education on trusts, wills, and probate: how the pieces work and how people decide. Written by Rozsa Gyene, a California estate planning attorney. Educational only; not legal advice.
What Is a Living Trust and How Does It Work?
The container idea, the three roles, what a trust does and doesn’t do, the whole concept in plain English.
Read the guide →Living Trust vs. Will: How to Think About the Choice
The first fork in the road, honestly compared: cost today vs. probate later, privacy, incapacity, and how families actually decide.
Read the guide →How Much Does Probate Cost?
Where the money actually goes: court fees, executor and attorney fees, bonds, appraisals, why it varies so much by state, and how families reduce or avoid it.
Read the guide →Do You Need a Living Trust If You Own a House?
A house is the #1 reason people consider a living trust. How homes and probate interact, and the honest trust-vs-will tradeoff for homeowners.
Read the guide →How to Avoid Probate on a House: 4 Methods Compared
Living trust, survivorship ownership, transfer-on-death deeds, and beneficiary planning, with the tradeoffs of each, honestly.
Read the guide →How to Fund a Living Trust
The step that makes the trust real: deeding the home, retitling accounts, what stays out, and the discipline that keeps a plan working.
Read the guide →What Happens If You Die Without a Will?
Intestacy explained: the state’s fixed formula, the court-chosen guardian, who gets left out entirely, and what a basic plan fixes.
Read the guide →Revocable vs. Irrevocable Trust: The Difference That Matters
One fact decides it: whether the person who created the trust kept the power to undo it. What each kind allows, what happens at death, and why an estate plan uses the revocable kind.
Read the guide →How to Choose a Successor Trustee
What the role actually requires under state trust codes, the qualities that matter, child or professional, and why an alternate keeps the choice out of court.
Read the guide →What a Successor Trustee Does After You Die
The job, step by step, under state trust law: the trust locks in, notice to beneficiaries, gathering and protecting property, the certification of trust, debts and taxes, distributions, records and accounting, and when to hire help.
Read the guide →Durable Power of Attorney, Explained
What the document does, what durable means, springing versus immediate, the notary and witness rules, choosing an agent, what the agent may and may not do, how it ends, and how it fits with a living trust.
Read the guide →Health Care Power of Attorney vs. Living Will
Two documents that are often confused: one names a person to decide for you, the other states your own end-of-life instructions. What each does, when each is used, how they are signed, and which one your state's plan includes.
Read the guide →What Is a HIPAA Authorization and Why Your Plan Needs One
The federal privacy rule, what an authorization must contain under 45 CFR 164.508, why a health care agent still needs one, and how the authorization in an estate plan works alongside the health care documents.
Read the guide →What Is a Pour-Over Will (and Why Trusts Include One)?
The safety net behind every living trust: what it catches, the three jobs only a will can do, and its honest limits.
Read the guide →