Many people chose to have trust based estate plans, instead of relying only on Wills.

    There are many good reasons to do a trust.

    One reason is that a trust will often allow you to avoid probate after your death.

    Another reason is that, with a trust, you can continue to handle your own affairs as long as you are able to and want to, but you can pass the task to someone else when you decide you no longer want to handle your own finances (or some of your own finances), or when you become unable to handle your own finances.

    This can save a considerable amount of money if it means that you can avoid a conservatorship, which might otherwise be needed if you become unable to handle your own finances.

    This can also save a considerable amount of bother if you merely decide you no longer want to handle some of your own affairs, even though you are still mentally alert.  If you are still mentally competent there can be no conservatorship, but dealing with things when you are no longer wanting to go down to the bank or other place of business can be troublesome, awkward, and in some cases, expensive.  Avoiding trips to banks and other places of business can also be important in times like these, when people who are older or who have underlying health conditions are advised to limit their in-person interactions, due to the current COVID-19 pandemic.

    The other chief benefit of having a trust, i.e. avoiding the need for a probate, has the additional advantage that avoiding probate can also save a considerable amount of money.

    While it is more expensive to create a trust based estate plan than it is to create a Will based estate plan, often it can be cheaper in the long run to have a trust, and to avoid a probate in the future.

    This is particularly true if you do not expect your circumstances or the circumstances of your beneficiaries to change very much in the future, so you do not expect to need expensive changes to your trust as things change in your life or in the lives of your beneficiaries.