When it comes to estate planning, it is important to develop an integrated plan for accumulating, protecting, and distributing or transferring assets.
Letter of Last Instruction
Do you have a letter of last instruction? A letter of last instruction is a way to provide your loved ones all the information about your finances. A letter of last instruction should include:
- Location of personal documents, financial papers, and accounts
- Names, addresses, and phone numbers of family and close friends
- Personal and financial professionals who need to be notified of your death
- Names of people you wish to receive special things
- Preferences for services and disposition of the body, as well as any information about prepaid funeral plans or location of cemetery plot you may own
Will
Do you have a will? An accurate and up to date will ensures that your property and possessions are distributed according to your wishes.
- Review your will every five years or after a major life event, such as the birth of a child or grandchild, purchase of property, death, or divorce.
- Name personal and financial guardians for dependents, if appropriate.
- Choose an executor and trustee for your estate plan.
- Prepare information about financial records so an executor can take over immediately.
- Make sure you have recently reviewed beneficiary designations on insurance and retirement accounts.
- Are there conflicts between your will and the titling of assets? Use appropriate form of ownership. It influences the way your estate is valued and how property is transferred. (For example, payable on death? Or joint tenancy with rights of survivorship?)
- Establish a living will or medical power of attorney. A living will expresses your wishes concerning life-sustaining procedures in case of terminal illness or imminent death. A durable power of attorney for medical decisions grants power to a person you choose to make health care decisions if you are unable to do so.
- Decide who will handle finances if you are unable to do so. A durable power of attorney for finances grants powers to the person of your choice if you are physically or mentally unable to do so.
- Decide who gets what and when. Who do you want to receive your assets? How much do you want each heir to receive? When do you want them to receive the assets? How should the asset be given?
Source: Burnett, D. & Latta, S. (2006, August). In How are you doing? A financial checkup. Alabama Cooperative Extension Service. Retrieved August 13, 2010, from the Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service Web site: http://www.ksre.ksu.edu
