Estate Planning Steps and Process

1. Select a few estate planning attorneys that might be a good fit for you. Give them a call and see if they are going to meet your needs regarding budget, availability, expertise and personality fit. (Here’s a previous post on finding an attorney).
2. Make an appointment for sooner rather than later. Finding time for the estate planning process (even though it is not as time consuming or as difficult as many believe) is difficult for many for a variety of reasons, but setting a date in stone to meet with your attorney is a giant step towards crossing this off your to-do list.
3. Complete your attorney’s questionnaire prior to your initial meeting. Most likely, the attorney you select will have you (or you and your spouse/partner together) fill out a questionnaire detailing your personal and financial status. The questionnaire is meant to both provide your attorney with information necessary to prepare the estate planning documents as well as raise important issues that you should consider regarding choice of beneficiaries, guardian for minor children, personal representative of your estate, advanced health care preferences, and more. Filling out the questionnaire will take you several hours to gather the information (addresses of relatives, balances of retirement accounts, checking beneficiaries of retirement accounts, etc.) and think about some of the issues mentioned above.
4. Initial meeting with attorney. This is your chance to discuss what you want your estate plan to do, what your goals are and ask the attorney how best to accomplish this. Your attorney will use the questionnaire as the basis for flushing out some specifics about your estate plan, but don’t be afraid to ask him/her about anything you might have questions about, were unsure of or did not include in the questionnaire. This meeting is your best chance to get your questions answered and set up your estate plan to operate how you want it to. This first meeting generally lasts around an hour or two.
5. Review drafts of documents. Your estate planning lawyer could take a week or two to prepare drafts of all of the estate planning documents you have requested. Generally, the estate plan will consist of the following:
   1. Will: Your Last Will and Testament specifies how you want your estate to be divided upon your death and what to do with certain assets, who should handle the probate proceedings, who you want to act as guardian for your minor children if neither parent is alive (and also who will manage their inheritance), provisions for pets, and establishment of any testamentary trusts (for estate tax purposes, to provide for children from a previous marriage or minor children, for beneficiaries with special needs, or otherwise) including trust terms and conditions.
   2. Durable Financial Power of Attorney: Names one or more persons to act as your attorney-in-fact to handle your day-to-day financial affairs should you become unable (due to illness or accident) to do so. This is a very important document for estate planning purposes that protects your interests if you should become incapacitated. The decision of who to name as your attorney-in-fact is very important as are a few choices regarding the extent and scope of their powers over your financial affairs.
   3. Health Care Power of Attorney and Advanced Health Care Directive: These can be two separate documents or one document which covers who you would like to make medical decisions for you in case you are unable to do so and which establishes in advance your wishes regarding artificial life-prolonging treatment should you be terminally ill or in a coma. The medical power of attorney is similar to the financial power of attorney in that it is very important to consider who you would like to make medical decisions for you. The advanced directive is often referred to as a “living will” or a POLST (Physicians Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment).
   4. Burial and Cremation Instructions: You wishes regarding the final disposition of your remains and any memorial services can be included in your will, your advanced health care directive or a separate document.
   5. Additional documents may, depending on specific circumstances, include community property agreements, mental health care directives and revocable living trusts.
6. Receive final drafts and execute. After making any changes you ahve to the draft documents, your attorney will prepare the final drafts of the estate planning documents and provide them to you for signing. Typically, signing will involve you, two witnesses and a notary public. After execution of the documents you must decide how you want to keep them. Wills and powers of attorney can be filed with a public official but that is not necessary. You should keep your estate planning documents in a safe or safe-deposit box and you should also provide copies to someone you trust. You should also TELL someone where you have kept all of your important documents.  Additional information, including a list of bank accounts, life insurance policies, brokerage accounts, etc. should be kept with your estate planning documents.
7. Updating your estate plan. You should consider updating your estate plan following major life events, such as having children, receiving a large sum of money (gift, inheritance, investment), starting a business, getting married or divorced. If you have a large estate (over $1 million) you should also keep up to date on the estate tax laws both federally and for Washington State. (Previous blog post on the current estate tax regime for Washington Residents).

If you have any questions or would like to discuss your estate plan with me, please send me an email at ryan@ryanvelo-simpson.com or call me at 206-660-9401.