Estate Planning Checklist

1. Last Will & Testament

A will allows you to determine what happens to your money and possessions after you die, and who becomes the guardian of your minor children. Otherwise, state laws and courts make those decisions for you.

Make a Will
Everyone over the age of 18 should have a will. If you have assets and/or children, you are well advised to seek the counsel and help of an attorney while creating your will.
Select a Responsible Estate Administrator
Everyone over the age of 18 should have a will. If you have assets and/or children, you are well advised to seek the counsel and help of an attorney while creating your will.
Send Copies of Your Will to Your Estate Administrator
Once your will is finalized, signed, and witnessed, you’ll want to make sure that your estate administrator gets a copy. You should also keep a copy in a safe-deposit box and the original in a fire proof safe at home.
Review & Update Your Will
You should review your will for updates at least once every three years and after any major life-changing events (marriage, divorce, birth of child, and so on). Life is constantly changing and your list of possessions and your desires as to how they are distributed are likely to change from year to year, too.

2. Letter of Final Instructions

This document provides a list of instructions for your survivors to follow. For example, it should make your funeral wishes clear (or provide the details of your preplanned funeral arrangements), people to contact, and spell out where your will and other key papers can be found. It should also provide information about your financial accounts and activities.

2.1 Leave Financial Details

One of the most daunting tasks confronting your survivors will be to wrap up your financial dealings. You can make this much easier on them by providing detailed information about your finances.

Create a List of Financial Accounts
List account numbers and pertinent information about your investments, bank accounts, insurance policies (life, disability, homeowners, credit and life) and other financial matters.
List the Location of Valuable Documents
Your list might include deeds, car titles, military records, birth and marriage certificates, divorce decrees and estate planning documents.
List Your Personal Data
This can include your Social Security number, driver’s license number, VA claim number, your date of birth and the names and phone numbers of family members.
List Loan Payments
This listing should include information about credit cards, mortgages, consumer loans, and auto and personal loans.
List Other Income Sources & Government Benefits
This includes pensions and Social Security. For information on military benefits, check with the Veteran’s Administration or your nearest military installation’s casualty assistance office.
List the Location of Tax Records
This includes filed returns, receipts, and all tax related documents.
Verify account ownership and beneficiary designations
Check bank, brokerage, and other financial accounts and insurance policies to make sure these conform to your estate planning goals.
Review your retirement plans for beneficiary arrangements and benefits
Check IRA, 401(k) and other retirement accounts to make sure these conform to your estate planning goals.

2.2 Leave Personal Details

Your personal information can prove invaluable to your loved ones as they wrap up your estate.

List all organizations in which you have membership.
They may provide special death benefits and should be noted for your survivors.
List your valuable personal items.
Valuable personal property has a tendency to “disappear” before a will is probated or a trust is administered. Provide your list (with the location of confidential or valuable items you may have put away for safekeeping) to a trusted family member or friend.
Provide the location of spare keys and security codes.
Access to your home and other real property will be important for your loved ones after you’re gone.
Provide easy access to your will and your durable powers of attorney.
Keep signed, original copies in your attorney’s office or a fireproof file at home. Also give a signed copy to your executor.
Provide veterinarian and care instructions for pets, if appropriate.
Include the name of your vet and any special needs for your pet(s).
Provide passwords to your electronic assets.
If you store any information on your computer or have email or other electronic accounts, make a list of all passwords, indicate where any compact disks, memory sticks, or other data devices are stored and where the information can be found.
Make Your Own Funeral/Internment Arrangements.
Pre-planning can relieve stress on your loved ones and give you ultimate control over your funeral’s cost and program, as well as the decisions about how your remains will be interned.

3. Durable Powers of Attorney

This document appoints someone to make personal, legal, and financial decisions on your behalf if you become incapacitated.

Designate Your Agent
Decide who will have the power to make personal, legal, and financial decisions on your behalf if you become incapacitated.
Provide a Copy of Your Power of Attorney to Your Agent.
Your agent should have a copy of your signed and notarized power of attorney as well as access to the original.
Provide Instructions to Your Agent.
Your agent should be familiar with your desires and wishes. You may want to provide a written set of instructions so there is no doubt about your desires and wishes.

4. Advanced Health Care Directives

This document gives instructions about your own health care and/or names someone else to make health care decisions for you in the event you become incapacitated. Included in your Advanced Health Care Directives are your wishes about organ donation and the selection of your primary physician.

Designate a Person to Carry Out Your Health Care Wishes.
Select your agent to handle your health care choices in the event you become incapacitated.
Designate Your End of Life Choices
Memorialize the measures you would like to be taken, or not taken, to prevent your death. Define what, if any, organs you would like to donate at your death and for what purposes you would like to donate them.
Prepare Your Advanced Health Care Directive
Keep a copy of your signed and completed advance health care directive safe and accessible. Give copies of your directive to your agent, doctor, and close family members. This will help ensure that your wishes are known and will be carried out.

5. Living Trust

A trust is a legal entity that holds property for the benefit of both you and your beneficiaries. Trusts have been around since the Roman era and are currently one of the most widely used tools to avoid probate and estate taxes.

Select a Successor Trustee
Your successor trustee will be responsible for administering your trust after your death. It is important that you select an individual who is responsible and in a good mental state to make decisions. You shouldn’t necessarily assume your spouse is the best choice. Think about all qualified individuals and how their emotions related to your death might affect their decision-making ability.
Set Up Your Trust
A trust can and should be customized to your unique life situation and long-term family goals. Consulting with an attorney is strongly recommended to successfully navigate the myriad of possible trust vehicles and designs. A properly created trust can enable you to avoid probate, creditors’ claims on your assets, and estate taxes.
Fund Your Trust
Even a properly created trust is not effective unless it is funded. To fund a trust, assets must be moved into the trust. Assets that are held in trust are generally protected from probate, creditors, and estate taxes.
Give Copies of Your Trust to Your Successor Trustee.
Your successor trustee should be provided with a copy of your signed, witnessed, and notarized trust documents. You should also keep a copy in a safe-deposit box and in a fire proof safe at home. –
Review & Update Your Trust
You should review your trust for updates at least once every three years and after any major life-changing events (marriage, divorce, birth of child, and so on). Life is constantly changing and your trust’s assets and your desires as to how they are distributed are likely to change from year to year, too.

6. Establish a Kids Protection Plan If Appropriate

Parents of minor children often leave gaps in protecting their kids without even realizing it. A kids protection plan can ensure your children are always taken care of by whom you want in the way you want, no matter what.

Nominate Short-Term Guardians
Designate people who can be there immediately for your children (people your children know and trust who are no more than 20-30 minutes away from your home) so they’ll never be taken into the arms of strangers.
Provide Instructions For Your Short-Term Guardians
Leave written instructions with your short term guardians so they’ll know exactly what to do if ever called upon.
Provide Instructions to Your Childrens’s Caretakers
Leave written instructions with everyone who takes care of your kids so they know just what to do, and who to call, if you are ever in an accident.
Nominate Long-term Guardians
Prepare legal documents naming long term guardians who you trust to raise your children just as you would want in the event you could no longer raise them yourself.
Write Letters to Your Term Guardians
Leave written documents for your long term guardians detailing how you want your children raised, the values that are important to you, the people you want to be in their lives, and anything else you would like them to know.
Create Medical Powers of Attorney for Your Minor Children.
Ensure your children can always get the medical care they need if necessary the next time you travel without them or they travel without you.
Place a Kids Protection Card in Your Wallet.
Put a customized, personal I.D. card in your wallet stating you have minor children at home and designating who should be contacted if you are in an accident.

7. Create a Business Succession Plan If Appropriate

Business owners can predetermine what will happen to assets through legal agreements and life insurance on business partners.

Create a Buy/Sell Agreement
Every co-owned business needs a buy/sell agreement in the event one owner wants to leave the company or passes away. To protect everyone’s interest the buy/sell agreement should set the price and terms of the “buyout.”
Fund Your Buy/Sell Agreement
Most buy/sell agreements are funded with life insurance but there are other funding alternatives available to business owners. The important thing is to ensure adequate funding exists to protect the business and the owner’s business interest in the event of a co-owner’s death or retirement.

8. Consider Family Legacy Planning

Building, preserving, and passing on your family legacy is one of the greatest gifts you can give your loved ones.

Write an Ethical Will
An ethical will is a document designed to pass values, traditions, wisdom and family stories from one generation to the next. It is a gift of love that children and grandchildren often find more valuable than financial or property inheritances.
Record Priceless Conversations
Save and share the lessons of your life with your children, your children’s children, and the children of your children’s children. A simple chat preserves your personality, experiences, love, and legacy. Your priceless conversations will become lasting treasures and true family heirlooms.

9. Review Your Insurance Coverage

Buy or Update Your Life Insurance
Life insurance provides an immediate source of cash that may be exempt from federal and state income tax (but generally not estate taxes). It is important to review your ownership, beneficiary and coverage amounts at least every three years to make sure your policies continue to reflect your needs and desires.
Consider Buying Health/Medical Insurance.
There are three major types of coverage that help protect and stretch your assets: Long-Term Care enables you to cover the cost of long-term health care in your home or at a long-term care facility; Major Medical protects you against the ever-rising cost of medical care; and Disability helps protect your income if you can no longer work.
Review Your Pension Plan’s Survivor Benefits
You may have a plan offered through your employer or the military’s Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP). SBP choices made at retirement can be changed if your marital status changes. The government also periodically offers open enrollment periods that enable the plan owner to make changes. Review your SBP often to ensure it reflects your situation and wishes.

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