So I am looking at writing a Will or a Trust to leave my house, belongings, etc. to either my sister or my niece. I put it off for a long time, and I have time to look into it right now. What do you guys think is the best route to go to get these things to them quickly? I have heard aTrust is better.  I hear that there is a lot less red tape with a Trust. Any thoughts?

Thanks!

See an attorney IN YOUR STATE for the answer to that question

FPNI - Trust

In AZ at least, trust and there's literally no comparison.

Talk with an estate attorney in your state and they'll set things up the way you want.

In my case I handled my parent's estate with a single trip to an attorney, and that was purely to confirm
I didn't need to involve anyone else. Their trust and a few of the related docs they provided (power of
attorney primarily) meant I could handle everything with a few phone calls, letters and emails.

After that experience I had an attorney do the same for my estate.

a trust lets you handle the red tape while youre alive so heirs dont have to, but that means its more work for you to do for it to be effective

Going through my dad's trust right now.

Far easier than a will.

First, I'm not an attorney and this isn't legal advice.

A will basically says when you die, this is how you want things to go.

A trust is basically a separate entity, which takes ownership/possession of those items, which has a manager (the trustee), for the people who get the stuff (beneficiaries). The trust actually owns/possess those items, so they're not 'yours' anymore...they're being held for you, until you can't manage them anymore (usually death, or incapacitation), at which point the assigned successor trustee manages the items for the beneficiaries. If it's in the benefit of the beneficiaries to sell/liquidate the assets, the trustee can do that, depending on how the trust is set up.

There are also different legal requirements in each state, and a difference between a revocable and non-revocable trust.

There are situations where the assets of a trust can be liquidated to satisfy debts of a beneficiary. so while a trust is a great tool, it's not always the best tool. Also, if something owned by the trust incurs a liability, eg you put a car in a trust and get into a wreck, or you have a house in the trust and someone slips on your steps and sues, generally speaking the assets in that trust are also at risk of being liquidated to satisfy liabilities of the trust.

Also, when it comes to tangible property, from my experience, most will need to be transferred into the name of the trust, since the trust owns the property, not you... and all the associated fees, taxes, etc that come with it. For a gun, or cash, it's pretty simple. Write it down and it's done. For a car, house, etc. there's paperwork and titles that have to be dealt with.