Is Your Estate Plan Obsolete?

Does it need a Tune Up?

Is it “Good to Go?”

We live in an age where things move quickly. Microwave ovens, text messaging, live streaming video, video chat, email, etc. have all made our lives…well, faster. The world of estate planning is no different. Things change in an instant. New laws, births, deaths, incapacity, financial markets, and changes in relationships and job situations all impact your estate plan.

Let’s be honest. Nobody wants to think about death or disability all the time; but as things change, your estate planning documents need to change with them to ensure your plan works when you need it to work.

Invest seven minutes RIGHT NOW to review what’s happened in your life since you created your plan. This checklist will help you determine what changes might need to be made in your estate plan to guarantee that things for your family will be clear and simple when (not if) something happens to you and that your legacy, both personal and financial, is passed on in accordance with your wishes.

Your family will thank you for it!

Estate Planning Check-Up

Please select your responses to the following question.

If the question does not apply to you, select YES.

I have a current Health Care Power of Attorney to permit my spouse, children or other family member to make health care decisions for me in the event I am unable to do so.

Yes No Don’t Know
I have a current HIPAA Authorization to allow my loved ones and trusted advisors access to my medical information.

Yes No Don’t Know
I have a current Living Will to ensure I won’t be kept alive if I am in a persistent vegetative state.

Yes No Don’t Know
I have a current Durable Power of Attorney to permit my spouse, children, or other family member to handle my financial affairs in the event I become mentally incapacitated.

Yes No Don’t Know
My planning documents detail a comfortable, practical and simple test to determine my mental incapacity.

Yes No Don’t Know
My planning documents minimize all possible taxes at my death, including taxes on my house, investments, life insurance and retirement plans.

Yes No Don’t Know
My planning documents, together with the way my assets are titled, ensure that all assets will completely avoid the delays and expenses of probate.

Yes No Don’t Know
My planning documents will avoid all possible will contests and disputes at my death.

Yes No Don’t Know
My plan provides protection for assets passed to my surviving spouse so that they won’t be lost to creditors or a lawsuit.

Yes No Don’t Know
My plan provides protection for the assets left for my spouse and my children in case my surviving spouse chooses to remarry.

Yes No Don’t Know
I have recently checked the beneficiary designations of my retirement plans and life insurance policies, and I am confident that I have not listed my estate or any minor children as either primary or secondary beneficiaries.

Yes No Don’t Know
My current plan provides bulletproof creditor and lawsuit protection for my children’s inheritance.

Yes No Don’t Know
My current plan provides protection for any beneficiary of mine who, at the time of my death, may be receiving “needs–based” government benefits.

Yes No Don’t Know
My current plan minimizes the income taxes payable on my 401(k), IRA, annuities and other retirement plans.

Yes No Don’t Know
My current plan provides protection for my children’s inheritance from creditors, lawsuits, bad spending habits and a divorcing spouse.

Yes No Don’t Know
I own a business and I have a solid succession plan for if I become incapacitated and when I die.

Yes No Don’t Know
I am satisfied with the persons I have named as guardians of my minor children.

Yes No Don’t Know
I am satisfied with the persons I have named as my personal representatives and trustees to make sure everything goes smoothly upon my disability or death.

Yes No Don’t Know
My current plan sets up a trust for my minor children to ensure they won’t have to go to court to have a conservatorship set up to manage their inheritance until they are 19 years old.

Yes No Don’t Know
I have a written contract with an attorney that minimizes the updated costs of my plan during my lifetime and sets a maximum for the settlement fees upon my death.

Yes No Don’t Know