Estate Planning Attorney Shawn Eyestone explains the difference between a will and a trust. Wills are just instructions to the probate court and all but guaranty your family gets to go through the probate court process. A trust creates a separate legal entity, sort of like your own non-profit with its sole purpose being to take care of you while you are alive and your beneficiaries after you pass away. The best part of trusts is that they almost always keep your family out of the probate court for the assets covered by your trust agreement.