--- title: 24 Essential Pieces of Estate Planning Paperwork You Need description: 'Beyond wills and trusts: Make sure your heirs have your estate planning papers, bank and brokerage account numbers, and contact information.' authors: - name: Jill Schlesinger url: https://money.com/author/jill-schlesinger/ at_money_since: 2015 articles: 24 covers: - Personal Finance - Career Advice - Housing - Identity Theft - Investing - Lifestyle - Retirement - Taxes social: - https://x.com/jillonmoney former_staff: true published: '2016-04-20T13:28:41.000Z' modified: '2016-04-20T13:28:41.000Z' section: Personal Finance tags: - Estate Planning word_count: 521 canonical: https://money.com/checklist-estate-planning-documents/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![24 Essential Pieces of Estate Planning Paperwork You Need](https://img.money.com/2016/04/screen_shot_2016-02-22_at_2-19-10_pm.png?w=1012&h=569&crop=1) You are not alone if you have a tough time tackling emotional issues related to your family's money. According to a Caring.com [survey](https://www.caring.com/research/wills-data-2015) conducted last year, only a little over half (56%) of American parents have a will or living trust document. Yet a well-planned estate is a wonderful legacy to leave your heirs. Even with modest amounts of money at stake, it's important for parents to create (and maintain) a set of shared documents, account numbers, and vital contacts. Use the following checklist to help your family tackle the issue -- and perhaps start some important conversations. **Estate Planning Documents** Parents should complete the following legal paperwork. **\_\_\_ Will:** A legal document that ensures that your assets are passed to your designated beneficiaries, in accordance with your wishes. In the drafting process, you'll name an executor, who is the person or institution that oversees the distribution of your assets. If you have minor children, you need to name a guardian for them. **\_\_\_ Power of attorney:** Allows you to appoint someone to act as your agent in a variety of circumstances, like withdrawing money from a bank, responding to a tax inquiry or making a trade. **\_\_\_ Health care proxy:** Allows you to appoint someone to make health care decisions on your behalf if you lose the ability to do so. **\_\_\_ Trusts (if applicable):** Depending on your family needs and tax situations, you may have either revocable (changeable) or irrevocable (not-changeable) trusts. One factor is the size of your estate: For 2016, the first $5.45 million of an estate is exempt from federal estate taxes. If an estate is above the threshold (or twice that for married couples), a revocable trust may be suitable. **\_\_\_ "DNR" order (if applicable):** You may need to complete a "do not resuscitate" order each time you enter a hospital or nursing home. **Account List** You should also complete, and share, a list of multiple accounts that heirs might need to access. \_\_\_ Bank and brokerage accounts \_\_\_ 401(k) accounts \_\_\_ IRAs and Roth IRAs \_\_\_ All auto-pay accounts, with name and contact information for each payee \_\_\_ Safe-deposit boxes \_\_\_ Pension documents \_\_\_ Annuity contracts \_\_\_ Savings bonds (with copies of the actual bonds) \_\_\_ Life insurance policies \_\_\_ Long Term Care insurance policies If there are related online usernames and passwords that someone will need to access, print out a list, stash it in a safe or other secure location, and then -- this is important -- make sure that your executor or heirs know how to find it. **Other Documents** Finally, there are several other pieces of paperwork that, if applicable, can be quite helpful to heirs. \_\_\_ Previous three year's tax returns \_\_\_ Housing, land and cemetery deeds \_\_\_ Mortgage accounts \_\_\_ Proof of loans made \_\_\_ Vehicle title \_\_\_ Partnership and corporate operating agreements \_\_\_ Marriage license and/or divorce papers, if applicable \_\_\_ Military discharge information \_\_\_ Important contacts: Names and current addresses for all people named in the legal documents, as well as the contact information for the estate attorney and CPA who will be handling the estate. ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/checklist-estate-planning-documents/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Personal Finance", "item": "https://money.com/personal-finance/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Estate Planning", "item": "https://money.com/estate-planning/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "24 Essential Pieces of Estate Planning Paperwork You Need" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/checklist-estate-planning-documents/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/checklist-estate-planning-documents/", "name": "24 Essential Pieces of Estate Planning Paperwork You Need", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2016-04-20T13:28:41.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/checklist-estate-planning-documents/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/checklist-estate-planning-documents/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2016-04-20T13:28:41.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "24 Essential Pieces of Estate Planning Paperwork You Need", "articleSection": "Personal Finance", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2016/04/screen_shot_2016-02-22_at_2-19-10_pm.png", "width": 2560, "height": 1440 } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Jill Schlesinger", "url": "https://money.com/author/jill-schlesinger/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/jill-schlesinger/#author", "image": "https://img.money.com/2015/11/151119_bio_author_schlesinger.jpg?quality=85&w=640&h=640&crop=1", "sameAs": [ "https://x.com/jillonmoney" ] } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2016-04-20T13:28:41.000Z", "description": "Beyond wills and trusts: Make sure your heirs have your estate planning papers, bank and brokerage account numbers, and contact information.", "abstract": "Beyond wills and trusts: Make sure your heirs have your estate planning papers, bank and brokerage account numbers, and contact information.", "@id": "https://money.com/checklist-estate-planning-documents/", "inLanguage": "en-US", "dateModified": "2016-04-20T13:28:41.000Z", "wordCount": 521, "keywords": [ "Estate Planning" ], "about": [ { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Personal finance", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_finance" ] }, { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Estate planning", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estate_planning" ] } ] } ] } ```