Estate Planning Preparation Workbook: Organizing Documents, Beneficiaries, and Wishes

Meeting with an estate planning attorney is expensive only if you arrive unprepared. The more organized and complete your information, the more efficiently the attorney can draft documents that actually reflect your wishes. This course gives you the preparation templates to make the most of that professional time. By the end of this course you will be able to complete a full asset and account inventory, audit your beneficiary designations for consistency with your estate plan, articulate your distribution wishes clearly enough for an attorney to translate them into legal documents, and prepare a healthcare directive that captures your specific preferences. What you will learn: - How to build a comprehensive asset inventory: financial accounts, real estate, business interests, personal property, and digital assets - A beneficiary designation audit template: listing every account with a beneficiary designation, identifying outdated or inconsistent designations, and flagging accounts with no designation - How to document distribution wishes: who receives what, in what proportions, under what conditions (particularly for minor children or beneficiaries with special needs) - Guardianship decisions for minor children: the considerations involved and how to document your preference for an attorney - Healthcare directive preparation: a guided reflection on end-of-life care preferences covering common medical scenarios - Power of attorney preparation: what decisions your agent will need to make and what information they will need to have access to - An attorney preparation checklist: the documents and information to bring to an estate planning consultation The course uses eight worksheets introduced sequentially, each with explanatory reading and a worked example. You will complete an asset inventory, a beneficiary audit, a distribution outline, and a healthcare preference summary. A final checklist confirms everything needed for a productive attorney meeting. This course is designed for adults who intend to create or update their estate planning documents and want to arrive at an attorney meeting fully prepared. Suitable for those with no prior legal experience. This course is educational and does not substitute for advice from a licensed estate planning attorney.