Estate Planning Checklist

Estate planning is the effective accumulation, conservation, and distribution of assets pursuant to the testator's wishes. Common problems with estate planning include:

Liquidity is needed to pay federal and state estate taxes, income taxes on pension distributions, probate and administrative costs, outstanding debts, and to pay specific cash bequests, provide family support, and to pay possible generation-skipping transfer taxes, and funds may be required to continue the operation of a family business.

This article lists some of the things to consider when contemplating the execution of your will, what information you need to gather and to think about how you want your property distributed after you die. This article is not intended to be all-inclusive, but to just present possibilities of what needs to be done and the basics of writing a will.

Estate planning goals include:

If you die intestate, your property will be distributed to your legal heirs; otherwise your property will be distributed to your beneficiaries designated in your will. Either way, your estate must be administered by someone — if you die intestate, then the court will appoint an administrator to manage your estate. If you have a will, then you can appoint a personal representative, aka executor, to manage your estate. In either case, provide pertinent information to allow the personal representative — either the court administrator or the executor — to distribute your property, pay your debts and taxes, and to close your estate. Obviously, administering your estate will be easier by providing the necessary information, which should include:

Notify someone or several people where this information can be found.

When choosing a personal representative, consider that they must collect all the assets, pay all obligations, then distribute the assets to the beneficiaries. This may be simple for small estates, but, may be more complex and time-consuming for larger estates, depending on the property to be transferred. The personal representative should not have any conflict of interest in managing the estate. The personal representative must have the time and inclination to manage the estate process, which may take months or longer. The personal representative should both know the family members and get along with them well to avoid problems. The personal representative may also be required to live in the same state as the testator unless he is a close family member.

Wills: A Quick Overview

A will may not be hard to write. If your estate is small and your estate plan is simple, then you could write your own will without too much difficulty, especially if you use books or software that guide you step-by-step. Many of the past legal perils were artificial, created by a legal system that served to enrich lawyers at the expense of other people's estates. However, the modern trend has been to give paramount significance to the testator's intent rather than to thwart the testator's intent because of harmless errors; hence, if you are clear in your intentions, both in your will and to your family members, then your will should be carried out largely in accordance with your wishes, especially if you are giving most of your property to your family members.

If you live in a state that provides a statutory will, then you can use that if your estate is simple. The statutory will is a free will created by state law, and is available in California, Maine, Michigan, and Wisconsin. The testator only needs to fill out the will and have it witnessed, dated, and signed.

The most significant legal requirements for a will include:

In most states, to execute your will, you generally must have 2 witnesses actually see you sign your will and know that you are signing your will and you, in turn, must see them sign their signatures as witnesses. Even if some states, such as Pennsylvania, do not require witnesses, it would be prudent to use them anyway since they may prevent will challenges.

You may also want to attach a notarized self-proving affidavit to create a self-proving will to eliminate the need to have your witnesses testify as to their signatures when the will is probated since they may not survive you.

Wills should be at least reviewed for possible updates:

Writing Your Will

When writing your will:

Executors

Will Sections

Will Safekeeping