Your estate plan will work if you remembered to
- Work with a qualified estate planning attorney
- Disclose pertinent personal, family, and financial information to your attorney
- Fund your trust and own your assets properly
- Update your estate plan every three to five years
- Update your beneficiary designations at the same time
- Update your plan sooner than three to five years, if you experience a major change in your life
- Ask permission before appointing trustees in your trust, agents in your powers of attorney, guardians in your will and stand-by guardianship
- Appoint contingent trustees, agents, and guardians
- Told your loved ones that you engaged in estate planning and showed them where you keep your estate planning documents and other important papers
- Made a list of all your assets and keep it up to date
- Made a list of all of your online accounts and included passwords, usernames, and PINS
- Avoid joint ownership
- Sign a living will and organ donation authorization
- Include asset protection planning for all inheritances
- Provide a list of specific gifts of family heirlooms or special personal possessions for loved ones and include a fair method of dividing other personal property
- Write down your final arrangement wishes
- Purchase homeowners or renters insurance, life insurance, disability insurance, and liability insurance, including personal catastrophic liability insurance. Consider long term care insurance
- Communicate with your loved ones about your estate planning related wishes; explain whos in charge when; and, allow them to answer questions
- Write an ethical will so your loved ones have tangible proof of your love
Its an extensive checklist. But, if you follow this check list, your estate plan will, likely, work. Always work in consultation with a qualified estate planning attorney. Going it alone will not work.
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