An estate plan is simply your decisions, written down and legally binding: who raises your kids, who gets your home, who can act for you if you can't. Without one, a court decides — slowly, publicly, and at your family's expense.
Plans are prepared through TrusteeFriend with guidance from experienced planners and licensed attorneys in all 50 states. Introduced by Leon Nguyen, El Paso, TX.
"I'll get to it someday" is the most common estate plan in America. Here's what "someday" really hands your family:
If both parents die without a will naming guardians, the court chooses who raises your kids. It may not be who you would have chosen — and family members can end up fighting over it in court.
Every state has "intestacy" laws — a default formula for dividing your property. It doesn't know about your partner, your stepchildren, your favorite charity, or the family member you didn't want involved.
Probate is public, slow, and billed against your estate. Bank accounts and the house can be tied up for months while your family covers bills out of pocket.
Estate planning isn't only about death. If an accident or illness leaves you unable to decide, no spouse or parent automatically has the legal right to manage your finances or speak to your doctors. Without signed documents, they may need a court-appointed conservatorship first.
It's a small set of legal documents. Each one does a specific job, and together they cover your family from every angle. This is what a TrusteeFriend plan puts in place:
A trust is a legal container you create while you're alive. You move your house and major assets into it, you stay in control as trustee, and you name who takes over and who receives what when you pass.
Why it matters: assets in a trust pass directly to your beneficiaries — no probate court, no public record, no months of waiting.
Your will states who receives what's left outside the trust and — most importantly for parents — names the guardians who would raise your minor children.
Why it matters: this is the only place you legally get to name a guardian. Without it, a judge decides.
This document names a trusted person who can pay your bills, manage accounts, and handle financial matters if you're incapacitated and can't do it yourself.
Why it matters: without one, your family may have to petition a court just to keep your mortgage and utilities paid.
Also called a living will or healthcare power of attorney, it records your medical wishes and names who can make healthcare decisions and speak with doctors on your behalf.
Why it matters: in a medical crisis, it spares your family from guessing — or disagreeing — about what you would want.
A trust only protects the assets actually placed in it. The transfer deed formally moves your home's title into your trust so it gets the probate-avoidance benefit.
Why it matters: an unfunded trust is the most common estate-planning mistake. TrusteeFriend includes the deed work in its packages.
A will is a good start — but it does its work through probate court. A living trust does its work around it. Here's the honest comparison:
| Will only | Will + living trust | |
|---|---|---|
| Goes through probate court? | Yes — your estate is settled in public court proceedings. | Trust assets skip probate and transfer directly to your beneficiaries. |
| How long until family receives assets? | Commonly 9–18 months, longer if anything is contested. | Can be a matter of weeks, handled privately by your successor trustee. |
| Private or public? | Public — a filed will becomes part of the court record anyone can see. | Private — your assets and wishes stay within the family. |
| Names guardians for minor kids? | Yes — this is done in the will. | Yes — the will in the package still names guardians. |
| Helps if you're incapacitated? | No — a will only takes effect at death. | Yes — your successor trustee and powers of attorney can step in immediately. |
| Controls when kids inherit? | Limited — children typically receive everything outright at 18. | Yes — you can spread distributions across ages or milestones you choose. |
Read each line. If any of them describe your life, you don't have a "someday" problem — you have a now problem.
You have kids under 18Only a will lets you name who raises them. Without one, a judge who has never met your family decides.
You own a homeYour house is probably your biggest asset. A trust keeps it out of probate and passes it to your family privately and quickly.
You're married, remarried, or have a blended familyDefault state law rarely matches blended-family wishes. A plan makes sure your spouse and your kids are both provided for, the way you intend.
You own a business or investment propertyWithout instructions, partners, tenants, and the court all collide at once. A plan says who steps in and what happens to your share.
You have savings, retirement accounts, or life insuranceThese need beneficiary designations that agree with your overall plan — a mismatch can send money to the wrong person, and it's very hard to undo.
You're simply an adultMarried or single, rich or just starting out — if you're over 18, powers of attorney and a healthcare directive protect you while you're alive. That part matters at every age and income.
If you nodded at even one of these — that's the reason to click. Not because anyone is selling you paper, but because the alternative is leaving these decisions to a courtroom.
These come straight from TrusteeFriend's field guide — the same questions I walk through with clients and prospects. Answer honestly. There are no wrong answers, only unanswered ones.
0 of 8 answered
No kids under 18? Answer "Yes" — this one is already covered for you.
Answer "Yes" only if that person is named in signed legal documents — a verbal understanding doesn't count in a hospital or a bank.
Answer "Yes" if you've reviewed them within the last few years — or after any big life change like a baby, a move, or a marriage.
A trust only protects what's actually been moved into it — the house, accounts, and property have to be titled in the trust's name.
Retirement accounts, life insurance, and bank accounts pay whoever is named on the form — even if your will says something different.
No law-office retainer, no months of back-and-forth. TrusteeFriend built its process for people who keep putting this off:
Click "Start My Estate Plan" to open your guided intake, or call Leon first at 915-238-2243 if you'd rather walk through it with a person. Your dashboard checklist shows exactly where you are at every stage.
You'll always meet with a real person — an experienced planner, or a licensed attorney on the attorney-guided plan — who learns your family situation and drafts documents that fit your actual life, not a template.
Your finished documents are printed, bound, and shipped to you; the attorney plan includes a mobile notary who comes to you for signing. And when life changes — a baby, a house, a move — TrusteeFriend doesn't charge you to update your plan.
A traditional law firm typically charges $2,000–$5,000 for a comprehensive estate plan. TrusteeFriend offers two guided routes, both with monthly installments available:
Either way, your information is transmitted over encrypted connections, your dashboard tracks every step, and you can message your planner directly through your account whenever a question comes up. Questions before you start? TrusteeFriend's team is at (888) 251-2553.
I'm a financial professional and realtor based in El Paso, Texas, and I work with families nationwide. In my day-to-day work — life insurance, financial planning, helping families buy homes — I kept seeing the same gap: people protect their income and buy the house, but never write down what happens to any of it if they're gone.
I'm not an attorney, and I don't draft your documents. I'm your introducer: I connect you to TrusteeFriend, where experienced planners and licensed attorneys build your plan. My job is to make sure you understand why it matters and actually get it done — the same conversation I have with my own clients and family.
Not sure which plan fits, or want to talk it through first? That's what I'm here for — no pressure, just a straight conversation.
The same questions Leon hears from clients, friends, and family — answered straight.
No — "estate" is just the legal word for everything you own, and most families own more than they think: a house, vehicles, bank and retirement accounts, life insurance, personal belongings. If you have minor children, the guardian question alone makes a plan essential at any income level.
A bare-bones will form is better than nothing, but it still goes through probate, often misses the powers of attorney and healthcare directive you need while alive, and generic templates regularly fail on state-specific signing rules or on real-life complications like blended families. TrusteeFriend's plans pair the documents with a human planner or attorney who reviews your situation — that's the part a free form can't do.
The planner-guided plan is $850 flat: the full trust package, the deed transferring your home into the trust, planner support during intake and review, and your documents printed in a binder and shipped to you. The attorney-guided plan is $1,850 and adds attorney intake and review plus a mobile notary. Monthly installments are available on both, and updates to your plan aren't charged as life changes.
Most families move from intake to signed documents far faster than the months a traditional law-office process can take, because the intake, checklist, and messaging all live in one dashboard. Your planner keeps each step moving and tells you exactly what's next.
Yes. Leon is based in El Paso, but TrusteeFriend works with families in all 50 states, and your documents are prepared to your own state's rules. The whole process happens online and by phone, wherever you live.
The button takes you to TrusteeFriend's secure signup through Leon's partner link, where you choose the planner- or attorney-guided plan and begin your guided intake. You'll meet your planner or attorney, answer questions about your family and assets through your dashboard, review your drafted documents, and sign — with a mobile notary on the attorney plan. Leon stays available throughout if you want a second set of eyes.
Yes — that's the point of a revocable living trust. You stay in full control while you're alive and competent, and you can amend your documents as life changes: a new baby, a divorce, a new home, a changed beneficiary. TrusteeFriend doesn't charge to update your plan.
Twenty minutes from now, this can stop being the thing you "really should do." Start your plan today, and the people you love will never have to guess.