A Will has no effect until you die, while a Living Trust becomes operative during your lifetime to manage your assets. A Will is part of the public record, it's public and subject to scrutiny by creditors, heirs, non-heirs who may feel as though they deserve a portion of your estate and those just curious about your estate. If you have a Will and do not have a Trust your estate will be subject to the time consuming and costly procedure of Probate . Probate is the confiscation of your money. Fees and costs are paid from your estate before a dime can go to your heirs.
Probate is time consuming .
Probate can take sometimes up to three years and during this time your assets are frozen and nothing would be distributed to your heirs. If your family needs money to live on, they must go to court and seek the Court's permission to get a living allowance which may or may not be approved. A Trust completely eliminates this problem. Loss of control is another aspect that a Trust will prevent. If you die with a Will or without a Will the Probate process will control your estate and this can be very frustrating along with being costly and time consuming to your family.