Success Is a Science; If You Have the Conditions, You Get the Result.
-Oscar Wilde
Now that you have some of the major pieces for a typical plan, let’s put this together, in the form of a checklist-what you might your comprehensive estate plan might look like, at the end of this process.
Please Note: The lists below are not comprehensive, other documents are used for planning, including funerary directives, plans for children’s care, and more. In each case, most of the documents must be prepared before they’re needed; they cannot be generated after the fact.
OPTION NO. 1-THE WILL AS CENTERPIECE
For those people without minor children, and who do not want to have a lifetime Trust, a typical estate planning package would include:
- Will
- Powers of Attorney (e.g., financial, health care or other)
- Nomination of guardian for disability
- Health care directives
- Living will
- HIPAA release
- Declaration of disposition of remains (when appropriate).
For those people with minor children, and do not want a lifetime Trust, a typical estate planning package would include the same documents as above, but they would have an additional focus on the children’s needs. To do that, they can add a Testamentary Trust in the Will, for benefit of children in the event of an unexpected death of their parents, as well as direction for children’s guardians and management of assets under the Testamentary Trust.
OPTION NO. 2-THE TRUST AS CENTERPIECE
For those clients who want a lifetime Trust Agreement, and do not have minor children, they typically receive:
- Trust Agreement
- Assignment of personal property to the lifetime Trust
- A Will that pours over property into a lifetime Trust upon death
- Verification of non-probate property disposition to the Trust or elsewhere when appropriate
- Power of Attorney
- Health Care Directive
- Living Will
- HIPAA release
- Declaration relating to remains (where appropriate)
If there are minor children, then the Trust emphasizes disposition and management of assets for the minor, with direction on guardianships if needed.