Understand the relationship between any trusts and your will

If you have any trusts, or if a trust is set up in your will, be sure you understand how the trust and the will interact. This should be done with your attorney. Some trusts are set up only for the life of a person and the money passes to the estate at death. Other trusts are created to last beyond death and have assets that stay in the trust and therefore avoid the entire will and probate process—they are distributed according to the trust documents, not the will.

Once you understand the relationship between your trusts and your will, write down any helpful information and leave it for the executor of your will.