Will and Trust Preparation Inventory

The Confidential Inventory is a tool to help you make decisions and gather the information needed before you sit down with your estate-planning attorney. The inventory asks you specific questions about your People (heirs), Property, Plans, and Planners. Reading the material and answering the questions will provide you with the information that you need. By preparing before your appointment, you will have a clearer picture of your family's needs, your financial goals, the structure of your finances, and how the Lord's work might be included. By completing the inventory and the review process, you can be assured that your estate plan will meet your goals.

The Confidential Inventory is arranged in four sections. Click to view or print all the sections (10 pages). Each section can be viewed and/or printed individually. See below for a summary of each section.

PEOPLE Your heirs and charities; those whom you love and want to provide for through your estate plans. Considerations should include ages, dependency, relationship, special needs or handicaps. The various questions will help you to consider everyone you might want to include. This section is the foundation of your whole estate plan. Click to view.

PROPERTY There are many tax and legal aspects to the distribution of property. Some assets have tax advantages like a step-up in basis if left to heirs. Some assets are best for gifting to charity. How you hold assets is very important to their distribution and possible taxation. Many people are surprised to find out how much their total estate is actually worth when they complete this section. This section can help you prevent having your estate plan derailed by having property held incorrectly. Click to view.

PLANS What estate plans do you have in place? Is that plan appropriate for the changes in your life or family which have occurred since it was last updated? How would you like to see your estate distributed? With this information, your attorney can merge your people (heirs) with your plans (goals) and your property (assets) and could also include charity in ways that avoid taxes. This section also determines the technical structure of the estate plan. Click to view.

PLANNERS This section explains the planners that you will need, what roles they will play and describes the qualities to look for in each one. It will help you select your best representative in each area. Selecting the most qualified person for each position will protect your family and facilitate the settlement of your estate. Click to view.

The above files are in Acrobat Reader (PDF) format.

For further information or answers to your questions, please feel free to call our Estate Planning Team toll free at 1-800-387-4040. We can provide you with additional information on the variety of plans outlined and we can guide you, in consultation with your advisors as needed, to the best options for you. There is no obligation and the call is toll free, so call us today. You can send an email to: .