• Names your trust

  The will identifies the trust by its name and date, and the trustee if you want them named, so it is clear where the rest of your estate goes.

• Everything else goes to the trust

  Whatever is not already in the trust and not given away by name is added to the trust and held on its terms at your death.

• Children and a guardian

  Name up to four children and say which are minors or dependents. If any is, you can name a guardian, with an alternate.

• Specific gifts

  Leave up to three particular items or amounts to individuals or charities, each with an optional alternate recipient, before the rest goes to the trust.

• An executor, and a replacement

  Name the person who carries out the will and who steps in if they cannot or will not. The will sets out what they may do.

• Signing and witness lines

  The will ends with your signature, three witness blocks, a sworn statement for you and the witnesses, and a notary's certificate.

• A lawyer reviews it before it is used

  Your answers are prepared into a draft and reviewed by a qualified lawyer, rather than handed back to you as a finished form.

A pour-over will works together with a living trust. Anything you own when you die that is not already in the trust, and that you have not given away by name, is added to the trust and held on its terms. It is a safety net that catches what the trust missed.

This builder first asks whether your will will be used with a living trust. It then asks about your children (and whether any is a minor or dependent, which brings up a guardian), any specific gifts you want to leave to people or charities, which trust the rest goes into and when it was signed, and who carries out the will. The document ends with your signature, three witness blocks, a sworn statement and a notary's certificate. The trust itself is a separate document that this builder does not prepare.

A pour-over will needs a trust to pour into. If you do not have one and are not making one, an ordinary will may fit better. Whether a will can add property to a trust, and how it must be signed and witnessed, differ by state, so the draft sets none of that out and a lawyer confirms it before you sign.

Not sure? Talk to an attorney about your situation first.

These are separate documents, for different jobs.

• Last will and testamentSet out who inherits and who carries out your wishes.View document
• Revocable living trustHold assets in a trust you can still change during your life.View document
• CodicilChange part of an existing will without rewriting it.View document

• After setting up a living trust
• When you acquire something new that is not in the trust
• After the birth or adoption of a child
• When you want a backstop in case the trust was not fully funded

• Last will and testamentSet out who inherits and who carries out your wishes.View document
• CodicilChange part of an existing will without rewriting it.View document
• Just-in-case instructionsLeave clear instructions for whoever would need to step in.View document
• Estate-planning documentsThe documents that plan how your estate is handled.View document