What You Should Do With Your Estate Planning Documents

Read Your Documents

            Are all the names correct? Have all of your will or trust beneficiaries been listed? Are there terms and provisions you do not understand? Please let us know immediately if your documents are wrong or you don’t understand them.

Decide Who Needs Copies of Your Documents

            It is seldom necessary that the personal representative you named in your Will have a copy of it.  After all, a Will has no legal effect at all until your death.  However, you may want your personal representative to know where you keep your Will ie safe deposit box, in the Register of Wills, etc. so that it can be easily retrieved when that time comes.

            You should take a copy of your Advance Directive and Appointment of Your Health Care Agent to your family physician and local hospital to make a copy for your medical records. Also, take a copy of your general durable power of attorney to your bank and financial advisor. Do not allow your doctor, your local hospital, or your bank to retain the original of your documents.

            You should have your attorney-in-fact and your health care agent have a copy of your general durable power of attorney and your Health Care Power of Attorney.

Talk to Members of Your Family and any Other Persons Who May Be Affected by Your Planning

            Share the information we gave you about powers of attorneys with your attorney-in-fact and your health care agent.  Make sure they know what your wishes are and what they are supposed to do — before a crisis occurs.

            Consider whether you should share the details about the disposition of your estate with your family or other beneficiaries of your estate.  Will particulars or unusual bequests can create problems for the recipient or for other persons who may have expected to inherit from you?  Remember, one of the most valuable legacies you can leave behind is peace and harmony in your family.

            Have a good plan for the disposition of your personal property.  For most people, items of personal property invoke emotions and feelings.  Our experience has been that conflicts often arise over personal property that has little monetary value but great sentimental value.  Talk with your family about who should get what.

Review Beneficiary Designations and Joint Ownership of Assets

            Certain assets such as life insurance policies, retirement accounts, and bank accounts have beneficiary forms that trump wills or trusts. That means the funds in these accounts will be distributed to whomever you named as beneficiaries, no matter what you specify in your will or trust.  Be sure to check the beneficiaries on these accounts — and make any changes — to align with your Will or Trust.

            Some people have named family members as joint owners of certain assets, usually bank accounts. Unless they are owned by husband-and-wife, it is seldom a good idea to add an owner to your accounts. Remember that upon your death, the funds in these accounts will belong to the joint owner, no matter what you specify in your Will.

Now Is a Good Time to Organize Your Important Papers

            If you haven’t done it already, organize household and family documents by category in a file cabinet or accordion folder. Make sure you have copies of your birth certificates, marriage certificates, and any pertinent medical histories. Write your name and the date on any piece of paper that a stranger could not immediately identify as pertaining to you.  These papers would include items such as a list of the assets you own, the names, addresses, and phone numbers of your family doctors, and a list of the prescription medications you are taking.

            Keep your important documents — wills, birth certificates, insurance papers, etc. –secure by investing in a fireproof cabinet or box.

Review Your Important Papers Regularly and Keep Them Up To Date

            You may want to make changes to your documents if an individual named in your Will or Power of Attorney dies or becomes disabled, in the event of births or divorces in your family, or if you inherit money or property.