Most people think estate planning starts with documents. It doesn’t. It starts with decisions — about your family, the people you trust, and how you want things handled if something happens to you. The paperwork simply records those choices.

The mistake many people make is jumping straight into drafting an estate plan before thinking through the decisions that actually matter. Take a little time to get clear first, and the process becomes dramatically easier.

If you’re still unsure whether estate planning is something you should be thinking about now, you might start with Why Estate Planning Isn’t Just for the Rich, which explains why nearly everyone benefits from having a plan.

Here’s how to prepare before creating your estate plan.

1. Decide Who You Trust to Manage Financial and Health Care Decisions

Estate planning is ultimately about people. Before any documents are created, you should think about who you trust to step in when needed. You’ll likely need to choose:

An Executor
The person responsible for carrying out the instructions in your will and managing your estate after your death.

A Trustee
The grantor of a revocable living trust names themself as the initial trustee to keep full control over their assets while alive. In practice, managing assets in the trust operates like owning them directly. If you become incapacitated and when you die, your successor trustee steps in and manage your affairs as you intended with no need for probate.

Agent(s) with Health Care and Financial Power of Attorney
Someone who can manage health care, financial or legal matters if you become unable to do so yourself.

2. If You Have Kids, Choose Guardians

If you have minor children, this is one of the most important decisions in your entire estate plan. If both parents pass away, who raises your children? Your estate plan should name:

  • a primary guardian
  • a backup guardian

Without those instructions, a court may have to decide who takes responsibility for your children. It’s not always a fun conversation, but it’s one of the most important ones you can have. For more info on choosing a guardian, check out Choosing Guardians For Your Children.

3. Think About the Big Picture of Your Estate

You don’t need a spreadsheet of every account and asset you own before creating an estate plan. But it helps to understand the major pieces of your estate. For example:

  • Do you own a home or other real estate?
  • Do you have retirement accounts or investments?
  • Do you own a business?
  • Are there valuable personal items you want someone specific to receive?

A general understanding of your major assets is enough to begin structuring a plan. You can fill in more detail and use Legata’s Estate Tax Simulator to understand potential exposure to these taxes at any time.

4. Consider Who Should Receive Your Assets

Most estate plans ultimately answer a simple question:

Who gets what and when?

Sometimes the answer is straightforward: everything goes to a spouse or children.

But you may want to think about:

  • Leaving certain items to specific people
  • Providing for family members differently
  • Supporting charities you care about
  • Setting aside assets for future generations
  • Timing of distributions

You don’t need to finalize every detail before starting the planning process. But having a general idea will make the conversation much easier.

5. Gather a Few Basic Details

Once you’ve thought through the major decisions, it helps to gather a few pieces of information. Things like:

  • Legal names and contact information for family members
  • The names of the people you want to serve as executor, guardian,trustee, agent/power of attorney

Having these details ready simply makes the creation of your estate plan smoother and faster.

One More Thing: Leave a Roadmap

While it isn’t required to create your estate plan, it’s incredibly helpful to leave behind an overview of your financial life. A list of your advisors, major assets, accounts, and debts can save your loved ones enormous time and stress when managing your estate.

A Good Estate Plan Doesn’t Sit on a Shelf

Life changes. Your estate plan should change with it. Marriage, divorce, children, career shifts, new assets, and changes in the law can all affect how your plan should work.

That’s why the best estate plans aren’t static. They’re living plans that evolve over time.

If you’re curious what happens when plans go untouched for years, our article When Estate Plans Go Stale (and How to Keep Yours Fresh) explains why regular updates matter.

At Legata, your estate plan is a Living Estate Plan. If you are a Legata subscriber, you will not pay to re-create your estate plan making it easy to stay aligned with your life as it changes. Because the goal isn’t just to create a plan once. It’s to make sure it always reflects the life you’re living now.

Ready to Start Your Estate Plan?

If you’ve already thought through the decisions in this guide, you’re closer than you think.

Legata makes it easy to create and maintain an estate plan that evolves with your life —without the complexity and cost that traditionally come with estate planning.

Start your estate plan today

Or explore more practical guidance in our Estate Planning Basics resource library.