Some of an estate planner's most flexible and interesting tools, including all trusts, are available only to testators. A will offers an even more basic control. Anyone who does not take the time to direct the disposition of property will find the State ever willing to do it. The downside of this governmental scheme is that the people to whom the State gives the property, usually close relatives, may not be those to whom the testator would have chosen to receive the property. But the government doesn't do it quickly or for free, which leads us to the second point.
Wills save money.
Most people like this even better than they like control. Well, however expensive probate is with a will, it is far less expensive than the cost of estate administration in the absence of one. The easiest example of the saving of money through a will is that a competently drawn will absolves the executor and trustees of the obligation to post a bond. A bond is a security for honest performance which increases in cost with the size of the estate or trust and requires payment of an annual premium. On the other hand, virtually every estate which is administered without a will must post this bond - and keep it in force during the entire duration of the administration of the estate, a period which in a complicated estate can last several years.