Your Situation: Your age, marital status, family information (including birth dates of minor beneficiaries, and any special circumstances that may require attention, such as a disabled child or adult. I need to know if your are not a U.S. citizen because there are special considerations we need to discuss if that is the case. On a more practical level, I will ask you to make a list of names and contact information for your immediate family and any fiduciaries you name who are outside of that group.

Your Assets: We often refer to what you own as your “estate”. For our purposes, your estate is comprised of all the property (real and personal property) that you own outright or jointly with others. Other factors in our planning include any business you own and other assets, such as life insurance, retirement assets, etc., all of which are part of our analysis even though they are not directly part of your estate plan documents. How you own your assets may be relevant, particularly if you are a joint owner, a partner, shareholder, etc. Finally, the value of your estate is relevant to the type of planning we will cover. I will encourage you to make a list of your assets that will influence where we go.

Your Intentions: This facet of your plan is divided between lifetime and post-death goals and preferences. I want your plan to be ready and capable of providing for the management of your assets and affairs during times when you may lose our capacity due to illness or disease. Your plan should clearly provide for the management of your estate as you wish after your passing, and how your estate will be distributed. If you wish to integrate charitable giving into your plan, we will discuss how that is done and the tools available to implement those intentions.

Your People: I will ask you to tell me who you want to handle things when you cannot act for yourself. These persons will act as fiduciaries on your behalf as agents under powers of attorney, trustees under your trust, and executors in connection with your will. Also, I will ask you to make an Advance Health Care Directive in which you will appoint at least one person and, hopefully, one or two alternates to make health care decisions for you at any time you do not have the capacity to guide your own health care. All of these are people whom you trust to do the various jobs you will assign them; people who are capable and, in your judgment, will work in your best interest at all times. Finally, we want to anticipate the possibility that all of those you name for these positions may not be able and willing at the time they are needed. What do you do about that?