Checklist
Estate planning checklist
Work down this list in order. It covers what to gather, who to name, which documents to prepare, how to sign them in your state, and the follow-through that makes the plan actually work.
The checklist
1. Gather your information
Everything below feeds directly into the documents, so collecting it first makes the rest fast.
- Your full legal name, any former names, and your county and state of residence.
- Marital status, spouse's legal name, and children's legal names and birth years.
- Real estate: address, county, how the deed is titled, and mortgage holder.
- Bank and brokerage accounts with institution names and rough balances.
- Retirement accounts and life insurance, plus the beneficiary currently named on each.
- Business interests, partnership stakes, and any transfer restrictions on them.
- Debts: mortgages, loans, and lines of credit.
- Digital assets: password manager, email, photo storage, and any online accounts of value.
2. Decide who does what
Name a first choice and a backup for every role. Ask each person before you name them.
- Successor trustee to manage trust assets if you cannot, and after death.
- Executor (personal representative) to handle the will through probate.
- Guardian for minor children, named in the will.
- Financial agent under a durable power of attorney to pay bills and manage accounts.
- Healthcare agent under a healthcare power of attorney to make medical decisions.
- HIPAA-authorized people who may receive your medical information.
- Beneficiaries and their shares, including what happens if one dies before you.
3. Prepare the core documents
A complete plan covers property, incapacity, and medical care.
- Revocable living trust to hold assets and avoid probate for what you fund into it.
- Pour-over will to catch anything outside the trust and nominate a guardian.
- Durable financial power of attorney for money matters during incapacity.
- Healthcare power of attorney naming your medical decision-maker.
- Living will or advance directive stating your treatment wishes.
- HIPAA authorization so your agents can actually get medical records.
- Final disposition instructions covering burial, cremation, and services.
4. Sign correctly for your state
Signing rules differ by state and by document. Getting this wrong can void an otherwise good document.
- Check the witness count your state requires for each document.
- Confirm whether a notary is required or only recommended.
- Use witnesses who are adults and not beneficiaries or your agents.
- Add a self-proving affidavit where your state allows one.
- Sign every page or initial where the document calls for it.
- Date every signature the same day, in the same place, with everyone present.
5. Fund the trust
An unfunded trust does not avoid probate. This is the step people skip.
- Record a new deed transferring real estate into the trust.
- Retitle bank and brokerage accounts to the trust.
- Review beneficiary designations on retirement accounts and life insurance.
- Leave retirement accounts in your own name unless an advisor tells you otherwise.
- Assign business interests, subject to any operating agreement restrictions.
- Keep an asset schedule listing what the trust holds.
6. Store, share, and review
A plan nobody can find is a plan that does not work.
- Store originals somewhere fireproof and accessible, not a bank box only you can open.
- Give your healthcare agent copies of the healthcare documents and HIPAA authorization.
- Tell your successor trustee and executor where the originals are.
- Keep digital copies in your ETrustPlan vault for re-download.
- Review after marriage, divorce, a birth, a death, a move to another state, or a major asset change.
- Re-check the plan every three to five years even if nothing changed.
How to work through your estate planning checklist
Seven steps that take you from gathering information to a signed, funded, and stored estate plan.
Take stock of what you own and owe
List real estate with its county and deed titling, bank and brokerage accounts, retirement plans, life insurance, business interests, and debts. Note which accounts already name a beneficiary, because those pass outside your will or trust.
Decide who you trust with each role
Pick a successor trustee, an executor, a financial agent, a healthcare agent, and a guardian for minor children if you have them. Name a backup for each and ask each person before you list them.
Set your distribution plan
Write down who receives what and in what shares, what happens if a beneficiary dies before you, and whether any share should be held until a beneficiary reaches a certain age rather than paid outright.
Screen for situations that need an attorney
Stop and consult a lawyer if a beneficiary receives means-tested benefits, your estate approaches the federal estate tax exemption, you own a restricted business interest, or you expect a contest. A self-help document set is not the right tool for those.
Prepare the full document set
Build the revocable living trust, pour-over will, durable financial power of attorney, healthcare power of attorney, living will, HIPAA authorization, and final disposition instructions together so the names and terms match across all of them.
Sign under your state's rules
Read your state's signing page, arrange the required witnesses and notary, and sign every document in one sitting with everyone present. Add a self-proving affidavit if your state allows one.
Fund the trust and store the originals
Record deeds, retitle accounts, and confirm beneficiary designations, then store the originals somewhere your trustee and agents can reach and keep digital copies in your vault. Review after any major life change.
ETrustPlan is a self-help document assembly service, not a law firm, and this information is not legal advice. Signing requirements change; confirm them with a licensed attorney in your state before you sign.
Keep reading
- Will vs trust: which one you actually need
- Funding your trust, step by step
- What happens on signing day
- Full FAQ, including state signing questions