HOW DO I GET READY TO PLAN MY ESTATE?

How do you get ready for a meeting with your lawyer to prepare your estate plan?
I like to make lists. Here’s a list, in order of importance, of things to find out and think about before you meet with your lawyer:
1.Choose (at least tentatively) who will make decisions concerning you and yours (and have a backup decision maker in mind);
2.Find out what you have that already has beneficiaries named and who those beneficiaries are;
3.If you have assets with other people named on them, find out what rights the others have;
4.Have some idea of how you want your estate distributed;
5.Have full names of family members, full names and address of non-family members, and dates of birth for individuals under 18 who are to be named in your estate plan.
This list isn’t necessarily exhaustive, but those are the primary considerations. There is probably some room for disagreement on the order of importance, but when you look at it from the perspective of organizing your affairs, I think you’ll agree the order is pretty accurate.
For more information, check out my Estate Planning Law Reports.