Will

• 1). Review the Ohio Revised Code Section XXI regarding descent and distribution. When making your will, remember that a spouse may choose to accept the amount he or she would have received under the Ohio code provisions if the will had left them less than those statutory amounts.
  
  
• 2). Make a list of everything you want to devise. Your list should include money, property and personal items.
  
  
• 3). Make a list of people that you want to inherit money or property under your will. Make sure you have each one's full name and city of residence.
  
  
• 4). Begin to create your will. You may use a form purchased at a stationery store or one found online. You also may write your will in your own words. If you do, specify in the document the names and city of residence of each person that you wish to have inherit under the will and list with specificity each item or an exact dollar amount that you wish to leave them under the will.
  
  
• 5). Sign the document in front of two witnesses who are not beneficiaries under the will. You must declare the will to be your last will and testament in front of the witnesses, and they must sign the document in front of each other.
  
  

Trust

• 1). Review the Ohio laws as they relate to the creation of a trust. The Ohio Revised Code Section LVIII applies to trusts.
  
  
• 2). Determine what the purpose of your trust will be. You can create a trust to benefit an individual, an animal, for charitable or for non-charitable purposes.
  
  
• 3). Decide who you wish to administer the trust (trustee) and how the trust will function. The trustee cannot be the sole beneficiary under the trust.
  
  
• 4). Create a document that clearly explains your wishes. A trust does not have to be in writing, but to avoid problems validating the trust, you should have a written trust document. The document should state who the beneficiary is, who the trustee is, what is being put in trust and how the trust functions.
  
  
• 5). Sign the document in front of two witnesses or in front of a notary public. Many people make more than one original document and give an original to an attorney for safekeeping.