Does a business owner need a will or a living trust?
Most business owners are better served by a revocable living trust with a pour-over will than by a will alone. A trust lets your successor take control of your business interest without waiting for probate, keeps the transfer out of a public court file, and can name who manages its assets if you are incapacitated. A will alone can be enough when you own no real estate, the business is small and easy to close, and you have no minor children.
Decide where your business goes.
- Will packageA last will and testament, prepared online from your answers.from $695
- Trust packageA revocable living trust with a certification of trust and a pour-over will, prepared online from your answers.from $1,495
Starting prices, per person. Couples can set up a joint trust for both of you, or two plans with $100 off the second.
- Free health care directive: Says who decides about your medical care if you cannot, and what you want.
- Free financial power of attorney: Names who can handle your money matters if you are alive but unable to act for yourself.
Boring Insurance Agency is a licensed insurance agency, not a law firm, and does not provide legal advice. No attorney-client relationship is created by using this service. These documents are self-help forms prepared from the information you provide. Laws vary by state, and your circumstances may require changes these forms do not make. We recommend you have an attorney licensed in your state review your documents before you sign them.
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Kevin Kelsey
Founder | Principal Agent
Founder and principal agent of Boring Insurance, CA License #6011822. He put off his own estate plan because he did not want to take the time to find a lawyer, then built the offer so owners can set up a will or living trust online and fund it with life insurance. He is a licensed agent, not an attorney, and these pages are not legal advice.
Will or trust, side by side
Goes through probate
- Will
- Yes, for assets in your name
- Revocable living trust with pour-over will
- No, for assets in the trust
Public record
- Will
- Yes, once filed with the court
- Revocable living trust with pour-over will
- Generally private
Who runs the business after death
- Will
- An executor, once appointed by a court
- Revocable living trust with pour-over will
- Your successor trustee, right away
Covers incapacity
- Will
- No
- Revocable living trust with pour-over will
- Yes, for trust assets
Holds what children inherit until a set age
- Will
- Only with a separate trust
- Revocable living trust with pour-over will
- Yes
Our starting price, per person
- Will
- $695
- Revocable living trust with pour-over will
- $1,495
The detail
If an estate goes through probate in California, the attorney’s statutory fee is 4% of the first $100,000, 3% of the next $100,000 and 2% of the next $800,000 of the estate, set by statute rather than by the hours worked.
California Probate Code section 10810 (statutory attorney compensation in probate)
A California will can leave property to the trustee of a trust identified in it, which is how a pour-over will sends anything left outside a living trust into it.
A successor trustee can show authority with a short certification of trust rather than the whole trust document.
California Probate Code section 18100.5 (certification of trust)
A revocable living trust is treated as owned by you for income tax purposes and qualifies to hold S corporation stock during your life and for two years after death.
26 U.S. Code section 1361(c)(2)(A) (Cornell Legal Information Institute)
What this means for you
- The business is the reason. Customers, payroll and lenders do not wait for a court. A trust lets the person you chose act for your interest the week it matters.
- A trust still needs a will. The pour-over will catches anything you forgot to move into the trust and names guardians for minor children.
- Fund it as you sign it. Move the LLC interest or shares, the house and the accounts into the trust, and name it on your life insurance.
- Add the two documents for your lifetime. A health care directive and a financial power of attorney cover the months when you are alive and cannot act. Both are free here.
Go deeper on any of these
Related questions
- How do I avoid probate?
Hold your assets in a living trust, name beneficiaries on life insurance and retirement accounts, and use transfer-on-death registrations your state allows. A will on its own does not avoid probate.
- Can I start with a will and add a trust later?
Yes. Many people do. Moving to a trust later means signing the trust, a new pour-over will, and moving assets into it.
- What does a living trust cost?
Ours starts at $1,495 per person, with a certification of trust and a pour-over will included. A will package starts at $695.
- Do I need a lawyer to make a living trust?
- How do I know whether I need a will, a trust or an attorney?
Take the Business Owner Plan Check. It asks about ten short questions about the business, your household and what you already have, then says whether most owners in your position set up a will or a living trust, or should see an attorney first, and estimates the life insurance in ranges with the arithmetic shown.
- Take the Plan Check
Set it up, then fund it
We set up wills and revocable living trusts through our online document platform, from $695 for a will and $1,495 for a trust, and we place the life insurance that pays into them. We do not draft operating, partnership or buy-sell agreements, and we do not give legal advice; when your situation needs an attorney, the Plan Check says so.
Boring Insurance Agency is a licensed insurance agency, not a law firm, and does not provide legal advice. No attorney-client relationship is created by using this service. These documents are self-help forms prepared from the information you provide. Laws vary by state, and your circumstances may require changes these forms do not make. We recommend you have an attorney licensed in your state review your documents before you sign them.
Written by Kevin Kelsey, founder and principal agent, CA License #6011822. Last updated 2026-10-05. See all guides.