Coverage area
Estate Planning
Coverage of the tools that decide what happens to your healthcare, finances, and property when you cannot speak for yourself or after you die: living wills, powers of attorney, beneficiaries, trustees, and notarization.
Estate planning10 min
Dying without a will: who inherits under intestacy law, what children are entitled to, why unmarried partners get nothing, and what happens to minor kids
Rosalind Hale · reviewed by Theodore Marsh, Senior Editor
Estate planning10 min
How to avoid probate: the five mechanisms that transfer property outside court, what each costs, where each fails, and when a living trust is actually worth it
Rosalind Hale · reviewed by Theodore Marsh, Senior Editor
Estate planning10 min
Power of attorney vs guardianship: the difference, which one you can still choose, what each costs, and why one requires a court and the other prevents it
Rosalind Hale · reviewed by Theodore Marsh, Senior Editor
Estate planning11 min
What is probate: how the court process works, what it costs, how long it takes, which assets skip it entirely, and when you can avoid it
Rosalind Hale · reviewed by Theodore Marsh, Senior Editor
Estate planning10 min
What Is a Beneficiary? How to Name One and Why It Overrides Your Will
Kenji Tanaka · reviewed by Rafael M. Mendoza, Senior Editor
Estate planning10 min
What Is a Living Will? Your Healthcare Wishes, Put in Writing
Maeve Callahan-Vargas · reviewed by Rafael M. Mendoza, Senior Editor
Estate planning10 min
What Is a Notary? What They Do and How Notarization Works in 2026
Declan Doyle · reviewed by Curtis Hartley, Consumer Law Analyst
Estate planning11 min
What Is a Power of Attorney? Types, Powers, and When You Need One
Wesley J. Mercer · reviewed by Rafael M. Mendoza, Senior Editor
Estate planning10 min
What Is a Trustee? Duties, Powers, and How It Differs From an Executor
Greta Brandt · reviewed by Conor P. Brennan, Legal Researcher