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New Clients
ESTATE PLANNING WORKSHEET - Identify your planning objectives and learn what information to gather before meeting with an estate planner.
New and Existing Clients
MULTIPLE PLANNING DOCUMENTS IN ONE FILE - Asset & Liability Checklist, Contact Information, Document Locator, Instructions for Children's Guardians, Medical Information, Pet Information, Sentimental Items and Successor Trustee Guide. Not included: Burial Instructions, Trust Funding Instructions
Self-Review: Annually
ASSET & LIABILITY CHECKLIST - Make the task simpler for your financial power of attorney agents, executors and trustees. Organize a list of your monthly expenses, location of assets and liabilities along computer logins and passwords. The Excel and Word versions have different layouts. WHY INCLUDE THIS? "Treasure hunt" vs "treasure map". The latter can save weeks, months or even years. Estate planners often hear stories of spouses, executors and successor trustees still discovering accounts years after someone's passing, which holds up the settling of the estate. Self-Review: Annually
BLANK BURIAL INSTRUCTIONS Blank form to list final instructions if your current instructions are not easy to clearly change. WHY INCLUDE THIS? A preventable argument among family members is whether final plans are "too simple" or "too elaborate". Don't pass this along verbally: put in it writing to eliminate any doubts to your wishes.
Self-Review: Every couple years
CONTACT INFORMATION - Reduce the time those managing your estate spend locating contact information for important people in your life, such as family, physicians, work and more. Fourteen (14) pages. WHY INCLUDE THIS? Ideally, this document should be completed on the computer and emailed to those named as power of attorney agents, executors/personal representatives and successor trustees so that during an emergency, contact information is at one's finger tips. This information is often the toughest for those listed above to locate, so help those assisting with your estate by compiling and sharing contact information.
Self-Review: Annually
DOCUMENT LOCATOR - Save your power of attorney agents, executors and successor trustees time with a list locating important and often overlooked documents. WHY INCLUDE THIS? Too often people have documents in various rooms in their home, office, safety deposit boxes, etc.
Self-Review: Annually
INSTRUCTIONS FOR CHILDREN'S GUARDIANS - Share insight into the lives of your children should your guardians raise your children. List medical, educational and dietary information along with your personal feelings on a variety of important subjects. Four (4) pages.
Self-Review: Annually
LEGACY INFORMATION - Share background about yourself and previous generations, anecdotes and any other pieces of your life you wish passed along to future generations. WHY INCLUDE THIS? Perhaps a descendent will be writing a school report on an ancestor or, worse, your family and friends are at a loss for something to share at your eulogy…
Self-Review: Every couple years
MEDICAL INFORMATION - Include important medical information with medical power of attorney documents so your agent can efficiently communicate with your physicians and family. Four (4) pages. WHY INCLUDE THIS? If you arrive in an emergency room unable to communicate, there is a chance your family or power of attorney agent will be asked to return to your home to gather a list of the medications. Save critical time during a medical emergency by making sure your power of attorney agents have an updated and quickly accessible copy of this information. In addition, make sure your power of attorney agents have a copy of your power of attorney documents for an emergency. If you scan your documents into a PDF for emailing to the agents, they shouldn't have to search for paperwork that easily gets misplaced.
Self-Review: Annually
PET INFORMATION - Include important pet care information for your pet's caretakers, including vet, feeding and other general care information. WHY INCLUDE THIS? Pets are always happy to see you and never sass back. In reality, it can be traumatic and stressful for pets losing their owners and this information can help the transition.
Self-Review: Every couple years
SENTIMENTAL VALUE ITEMS - Share the history, meaning and potential value of personal items with your family and other beneficiaries. WHY INCLUDE THIS? As a planner, many times have clients shared that after a few months of dealing with wrapping up the estate, by the time the home was sold, everyone involved was stressed and wanted the process to be over. Hence, items end up in yard sales. Months or years later, family often regrets not spending more time reviewing items. Walk through your home with a notepad and list items with heirloom history or "non-apparent" financial value. Then, in a Word document, write 2-4 sentences on each of those items so family can quickly review and set aside items they want to keep or sell at the correct price at an estate sale. Take advantage of your smart phone by also recording short videos with your face and the item discussing the history so future generations can hear, not just read the history. In addition, if you have a fire you now have video proof of the items to replace in your home.
Self-Review: Every couple years
SUCCESSOR TRUSTEE GUIDE - Instructions for successor trustees during an incapacitation or upon the trustors' passing. Six (6) pages.
Last update: October 2014
Self-Review: Annually
TRUST FUNDING INSTRUCTIONS - After your documents are signed, it is vital to transfer desired assets into your living trust. Otherwise assets may not be distributed as intended and potentially be subject to probate. Three (3) pages.
Self-Review: Annually
