Executive Summary

• Creating (Or Reviewing) Your Will
• Creating (Or Reviewing) Your Living Trust
• Other Key Complementary Documents
  • Advance Health Care Directive
  • Power Of Attorney

If you have not yet read Part 1: What Will Happen To Your Assets When You Die? available free to all readers, please click here to read it first.

If you're married, have children, or if your assets exceed your debts, having an estate plan in place is highly advised, as detailed in Part 1. In my opinion, not having one is just plain irresponsible, and unjust to those you'll leave behind when you die.

Here in Part 2, I'll walk you through the key elements to consider including in your will and living trust, the bedrock components of most estate plans. This information will be useful whether you already have these legal documents in place or not.

Before I do though, let me make a few things absolutely clear. This is NOT personal legal/financial advice. I'm not an estate lawyer nor a tax accountant. And while much of the material presented below will be applicable to the vast majority, your own unique personal situation may require customizations and complexities that are best determined by a licensed professional. Also, estate law differs from state to state. So treat the direction within this article as instructive education only.

As always, we recommend working with professional advisers when building important legal/tax/financial plans customized to your own needs and objectives. When the stakes are high, the relatively small fees you pay for expert advice is well worth the price.

As an FYI, Peak Prosperity's endorsed financial advisor is well-versed in the estate planning process. If you'd like to tap their expertise about your personal situation, or enlist their guidance in determining how to select the right estate law and tax professionals to help you, you can schedule a free consultation with them here.

Suffice it to say, we recommend your estate plan, however it ultimately gets created, undergo review by a professional before you finalize it. Am I being excessively repetitive here in order to drive this point home? Good.

With that clarification, here's what you need to get started...

Join the conversation »