You can make your own will and trust without a lawyer in every state, and for a straightforward estate the process comes down to six concrete steps: inventory what you own, pick the right people for executor and trustee, draft documents with clear distribution instructions, sign with the correct witnesses and a notary, retitle your assets into the trust, and keep the paperwork somewhere your family can actually find it. Attorney-drafted packages commonly run $2,000 to $5,000 or more, while statutory forms and reputable legal software cost under a few hundred dollars. The savings are real. So is the risk of getting a step wrong, because a will that fails at signing or a trust that never gets funded is just paper.
When Doing It Yourself Is a Reasonable Choice
Self-drafting works when your situation is simple. You know who should get what. Your family structure is uncomplicated. Your estate falls well below the federal estate tax exemption, which is $15 million per person in 2026.1Internal Revenue Service. What’s New — Estate and Gift Tax If all you need is to name beneficiaries, appoint a guardian for minor children, and set up a revocable trust to avoid probate, reliable software can get you there.
Some situations really do call for a professional. Blended families with children from prior relationships create competing interests that generic forms handle poorly. A poorly drafted trust for a child with special needs can disqualify them from government benefits. Business owners need succession terms that mesh with operating agreements. And a handful of states impose their own estate taxes with thresholds as low as $1 million, plus five states (Kentucky, Maryland, Nebraska, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania) tax inheritances at rates up to 16% depending on the beneficiary’s relationship to the deceased. If any of that applies, the fee for an attorney is cheap insurance.
Gather Your Information First
Before you open any software or template, build a complete inventory. List real estate, bank accounts, brokerage accounts, retirement accounts, life insurance policies, vehicles, and any personal items of significant value. Note account numbers, approximate values, and — this matters more than most people realize — how each asset is currently titled. Titling determines whether an asset can even pass through your will or trust.
For each person who will receive something, write down their full legal name and current address. Vague descriptions like “my cousin in Ohio” invite challenges. Do the same for the people you plan to appoint to management roles.
The People You Need to Name
- Executor (in some states called a personal representative). This is the person who shepherds your will through probate, pays your debts, and distributes assets.
- Successor trustee. For a revocable trust you typically serve as trustee yourself, so the important appointment is the person who takes over if you become incapacitated or die.
- Guardian for minor children. Your will is the only place to name who should raise them, and courts give a parent’s written choice significant weight. Consider the person’s relationship with your children, their values, health, financial stability, and whether the children would have to relocate. Name at least one backup.
Executors and trustees owe fiduciary duties of loyalty and care. They must act in the beneficiaries’ interest, invest prudently, and avoid self-dealing. Ask before naming anyone.
Add a provision in both documents authorizing your executor and trustee to access digital accounts. Nearly every state has adopted a version of the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act, but the authority only exists if your documents grant it. Keep a separate, secure list of accounts and credentials, and tell your executor where to find it.
Understand What a Will Does and What a Trust Does
A will takes effect only after death and goes through probate, a court-supervised process that validates the document, pays debts, and distributes assets. Probate is public, often runs months to over a year, and carries court fees that vary by jurisdiction.
A revocable living trust works during your lifetime. You create it, transfer assets into it, and manage those assets as trustee. Because the trust owns the assets, they pass to your beneficiaries at your death without probate. You can change or cancel a revocable trust at any time, and the trust also provides a management structure if you become incapacitated, since your successor trustee steps in without court approval.
The tradeoff is upfront work: every asset has to be retitled into the trust’s name. Most estate planners recommend using both documents together. The trust handles the bulk of your assets, and the will acts as a backstop for anything you didn’t transfer.
An irrevocable trust is a different instrument. Once you create one and put assets in, you generally can’t take them back or change the terms. Irrevocable trusts can shield assets from creditors and remove them from your taxable estate, but you give up control. For most DIY planners, a revocable trust is the right choice; irrevocable trusts almost always warrant professional help.
Draft the Will
Your will needs to do three things: name your executor, describe who gets what, and (if you have minor children) name a guardian. Use specific language. “I leave my house at 742 Evergreen Terrace to my daughter, Lisa Simpson” beats “I leave my real property to my daughter.” Multiple properties plus vague wording equals a lawsuit.
After the specific gifts, include a residuary clause. This is a catch-all that directs everything left over after debts, taxes, and specific gifts. Without it, leftover property passes under your state’s intestacy laws as though you had no will, typically a formulaic split among spouse and children that may not match what you wanted.
If you’re also creating a trust, add a pour-over provision. This directs any assets you own at death that aren’t already in the trust to “pour over” into it. It’s a safety net for assets you forgot to transfer or acquired shortly before death. Pour-over assets still pass through probate before reaching the trust, so the provision doesn’t eliminate probate; it just ensures those assets ultimately end up governed by the trust’s terms.2Legal Information Institute (LII) / Cornell Law School. Pour-Over Will
Draft the Revocable Trust
The trust document identifies you as the grantor, names you as the initial trustee, and designates a successor trustee. It lists your beneficiaries and describes how and when they receive assets. You have more flexibility here than in a will. You can stagger distributions (“one-third at age 25, one-third at 30, the remainder at 35”), set conditions, or leave ongoing management in place for beneficiaries who aren’t ready for a lump sum.
Spell out the trustee’s powers. At a minimum, your trustee needs authority to buy and sell assets, manage investments, pay expenses, and make distributions for beneficiaries’ health, education, and support. Without those powers written in, a successor trustee may have to go to court for permission to do basic administrative work.
Online platforms generate these provisions through guided questionnaires. Read every paragraph before you sign. Generic templates sometimes include clauses that conflict with your state’s trust laws or omit powers your trustee will need.
Sign With the Right Witnesses and a Notary
This is where most DIY estate plans fail, and it’s the easiest step to get right if you know the rules. Every state requires the testator to sign the will. Every state requires at least two witnesses, and most states require those witnesses to be “disinterested,” meaning they don’t stand to inherit anything under the will. If a beneficiary serves as a witness, some states void that person’s inheritance, and others may invalidate the whole will. Use witnesses with no connection to your estate.
Both witnesses must watch you sign (or hear you acknowledge your signature) and then sign the document themselves. Everyone signs at the same time, in the same room. The ceremony feels formal, and that’s the point; it exists to prove you signed voluntarily and understood what you were doing.
Attach a self-proving affidavit while you’re at it. This is a sworn statement, signed by you and your witnesses in front of a notary, declaring that the will was properly executed. Without one, the probate court may have to track down your witnesses years later to confirm the will is legitimate. With one, the court can accept the will on the affidavit alone. Notary fees for the service typically run $5 to $25. A few states don’t allow self-proving affidavits, so check your local rules.
Trust documents generally need your signature and a notary’s acknowledgment. Witness requirements for trusts vary by state. If you’re signing both documents at once, having your witnesses and notary present for the whole session is the simplest approach.
Fund the Trust
A signed but unfunded trust is the single most common DIY failure. If you don’t transfer assets into the trust, it’s just paper, and those assets will pass through your will and probate instead. That defeats the entire reason you created the trust.
Funding means retitling assets so the trust, not you personally, is the legal owner. The process varies by asset type.
- Bank and brokerage accounts. Contact each institution and request a change of ownership to the trust. You’ll typically need a trust certification (a summary showing the trust name, date, trustee, and relevant powers). Some banks handle it in a single visit; others take a few weeks.
- Real estate. Prepare and record a new deed transferring the property from your name to the trust’s name. A quitclaim or grant deed works. File it with your county recorder; recording fees range from roughly $10 to over $100 depending on the county and number of pages.
- Vehicles. Some people transfer titles into the trust; others skip it because vehicles depreciate quickly and pass through simplified probate procedures. If you do transfer, contact your state’s motor vehicle agency.
Life insurance and retirement accounts work differently. You don’t transfer ownership. You update the beneficiary designation on the policy or account. Think carefully before naming a trust as the beneficiary of a retirement account, because trusts that receive retirement distributions can trigger compressed tax timelines and higher brackets. Under federal rules in effect since 2020, most non-spouse beneficiaries who inherit a retirement account must empty it within 10 years of the account holder’s death.3Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics – Beneficiary Naming individuals directly sometimes gives them more flexibility to manage that timeline than routing through a trust.
Assets Your Will and Trust Don’t Control
Some assets bypass both your will and your trust entirely, passing directly to a named beneficiary or surviving co-owner no matter what your documents say.
- Joint accounts and property with right of survivorship. The surviving owner automatically receives the deceased owner’s share.
- Payable-on-death (POD) and transfer-on-death (TOD) accounts. Bank accounts, brokerage accounts, and even real estate (in states that allow TOD deeds) pass directly to whoever you named on the designation.
- Life insurance and retirement accounts. These follow the beneficiary designation on file, not your will.
The danger is contradiction. If your will leaves everything to your children but your retirement account still lists your ex-spouse, your ex-spouse gets the retirement account. Beneficiary designations override your will. Review every one as part of your estate plan, and update them when circumstances change.
Add Powers of Attorney and a Healthcare Directive
A will and trust handle what happens after you die. They do nothing if you become incapacitated while still alive. Without more documents, your family may have to petition a court for a conservatorship or guardianship to pay your bills or make medical decisions.
A durable power of attorney names an agent to handle financial matters if you can’t. “Durable” means it stays effective after you become incapacitated, which is the whole point; without the durability language, the power evaporates precisely when you need it. Your agent can pay bills, manage investments, file taxes, and handle insurance claims. Most states publish statutory forms that financial institutions readily accept.
An advance healthcare directive (also called a living will or healthcare proxy) does the same for medical decisions. It lets you name someone to make treatment choices and can spell out your preferences on life-sustaining measures, pain management, and organ donation. Hospitals generally require this document before discussing treatment options with anyone other than the patient.
Both documents must be signed while you’re competent. By the time you need them, it’s too late to create them. Include them from the start.
One Tax Point Worth Knowing
Most estates owe no federal estate tax. The 2026 exemption is $15 million per individual, so a married couple can pass up to $30 million before it kicks in.1Internal Revenue Service. What’s New — Estate and Gift Tax The tax rule that matters for most DIY planners is different: step-up in basis. When your heirs inherit assets, their tax basis generally resets to the fair market value at your date of death. If you bought stock for $10,000 and it’s worth $100,000 at your death, your heirs can sell it and owe little or no capital gains tax. The step-up applies to assets passing through both wills and revocable trusts.4Internal Revenue Service. Gifts and Inheritances
Store the Documents Where They Can Be Found
A fireproof home safe and a bank safe deposit box are the two common options, each with a drawback. A home safe can be overlooked or inaccessible after a disaster. A safe deposit box can be sealed at death until a court grants access, which creates a catch-22 if the will authorizing access is inside the box. If you use a safe deposit box, list your executor or successor trustee as an authorized signer, or keep the will elsewhere.
Give copies to your executor, successor trustee, and healthcare agent. Encrypted digital backups add another layer, but courts require the original signed will for probate; copies typically aren’t accepted. Tell at least two trusted people where the originals are. An estate plan nobody can find is no better than no plan.
Update the Plan When Life Changes
Estate plans aren’t set-and-forget. Marriage, divorce, the birth of a child, a death in the family, or a major change in assets should prompt a review. Even without a triggering event, revisit the documents every three to five years.
For a will, you have two options. A codicil is a formal amendment: a separate document modifying specific provisions, signed and witnessed with the same formality as the original. Codicils work fine for small changes like swapping an executor. For anything larger, revoking the old will and executing a new one is cleaner. To revoke, either physically destroy the original with intent to revoke, or execute a new will that explicitly revokes all prior wills. The second method leaves a clearer paper trail. Crossing out provisions or writing “void” in the margins is risky, because courts may disagree about whether you intended a full revocation or a partial change.
Trusts are more flexible. A trust amendment modifies specific provisions while leaving the original trust in place. If amendments pile up and the document becomes hard to follow, a trust restatement replaces the entire trust with a clean, updated version while keeping the original name and creation date. Restatements are useful because they give your successor trustee and beneficiaries one document to work from instead of a stack that has to be read together.