Most people asking this question are not really choosing between two documents. They are trying to work out whether they need a trust at all, because they have heard that a will sends the family to probate court and a trust does not.
That is broadly true. It is also the least interesting part of the answer.
The part that decides whether your plan works has almost nothing to do with which document you sign. It has to do with what happens afterward, and most comparisons skip it entirely.
What a will actually does
A will is a set of instructions that takes effect when you die. It names a personal representative, directs who receives what, and, for parents of minor children, nominates a guardian.
That last point matters more than people expect. A will is the only place you can nominate a guardian for your children. A trust cannot do it. If you have young children and nothing else, you still need a will.
What a will does not do is avoid probate. A will is the instrument that tells the probate court what to do. It has to be filed, the court supervises the administration, creditors get a notice period, and the file is public. Anyone can read what you owned and who received it.
What a revocable living trust does
A revocable living trust is an entity you create while you are alive. You move your assets into it, and you keep managing them as trustee exactly as you did before. You can change it or tear it up at any point. Nothing about your day to day control changes.
When you die, the successor trustee you named distributes what the trust owns, according to your instructions, without the court. No public file, no creditor notice period, no waiting for a judge’s calendar.
A trust also does something a will cannot: it covers incapacity. If you have a stroke, a will does nothing at all, because a will only operates at death. A funded trust lets your successor trustee step in and manage things immediately. The alternative is a conservatorship, which means a court hearing, a judge appointing someone, and ongoing supervision.
The part most comparisons leave out
Here is the thing that actually determines the outcome.
A trust only controls what it actually owns.
A signed trust with every account still titled in your own name does not avoid probate. It does not give your successor trustee authority. It does not do the thing you paid for. Moving assets into it is called funding, and an unfunded trust is the single most common defect we find in plans drafted elsewhere.
This is why “trust versus will” is the wrong framing. A funded trust beats a will comfortably. An unfunded trust is worse than a well drafted will, because you paid more for a document that does nothing and your family ends up in probate anyway, surprised.
If you take one thing from this page, make it that one. How to fund your trust in Michigan covers what to retitle, what to leave alone, and the one category that can trigger a tax bill if you get it wrong.
The documents that beat both
Neither a will nor a trust controls your retirement accounts or your life insurance.
Those pass by beneficiary designation, a form filed with the plan administrator or the carrier, and those designations override both your will and your trust. A form you completed at a job two employers ago does not know about your divorce, your remarriage, or your youngest child. It just pays whoever is named on it.
For a lot of Michigan families, the retirement account is the largest single asset. Which means the most consequential document in the plan is often a form nobody has looked at in fifteen years. Checking them costs nothing and takes an afternoon.
A third option people miss
Michigan is one of a small number of states that recognizes the enhanced life estate deed, usually called a lady bird deed. It lets your home pass directly to the people you name at your death, outside probate, while you keep complete control during your lifetime. You can still sell it, mortgage it, or change your mind.
For someone whose main asset is a house and who does not need the structure a trust provides, a lady bird deed paired with a will is sometimes the cleaner answer. It is genuinely useful and not widely understood. How to avoid probate in Michigan goes through it properly.
Michigan also has simplified procedures for small estates. For some situations the honest answer is that a well drafted will and correct beneficiary designations are enough. Building a trust nobody needs is its own kind of waste.
So which one fits
A will is usually sufficient when your estate is straightforward, you do not own real property, your main concern is naming a guardian and stating basic wishes, and your significant assets already pass by beneficiary designation.
A trust tends to earn its place when any of these are true:
- You own a home, which is the most common reason by a distance
- You own property in another state, which otherwise means a second probate in that state
- You have minor children and want the money managed and released over time rather than handed over in full at eighteen
- You have a blended family and want your own children protected if your spouse remarries
- You want to plan for incapacity, not only for death
- Privacy matters to you, or you expect the plan to be contested
- A beneficiary has a disability and an inheritance would put their benefits at risk
That last one is a different conversation again. See special needs planning.
Most people end up with both
The usual answer is not one or the other. A trust based plan still includes a will, called a pour over will, which catches anything that never made it into the trust and sends it there. It is the safety net, and it is also where the guardian nomination lives.
Alongside those sit a financial power of attorney and a patient advocate designation, which are what your family will actually reach for first if something happens while you are alive.
On cost
A trust based plan costs more up front than a will. That is the real tradeoff, and anyone who tells you otherwise is selling something.
What is worth comparing is not the quote but what is inside it. A trust quote that does not include preparing the deed that moves your house into the trust is not a complete quote, and the deed work is what makes the trust function. What an estate plan costs in Michigan covers what drives the number.
Probate has a cost too. It is just paid later, by your family, in filing fees, attorney time, and months of waiting.
The short version
If you own a home in Michigan, or you have children, a revocable living trust is usually the stronger choice, provided it is actually funded. If neither applies, a well drafted will with current beneficiary designations may be all you need.
Either way, check your beneficiary forms this week. They outrank whichever document you choose.
George Remy is a Michigan-licensed estate planning attorney with more than eighteen years of experience, serving families across Washtenaw County and western Wayne County. He handles every plan personally and quotes a flat fee before any work begins. Schedule a free 15-minute consultation at remylawpllc.com.