Getting Ready For The First Estate Planning Meeting

Putting together an estate plan with an estate planning attorney is an important task that everyone needs to perform. This column discusses the important steps that people should follow when they are getting ready to have their first estate planning meeting. It is important to put together a list of assets and liabilities, and also decide how to distribute personal items that might have sentimental value. People should start thinking about who has the necessary skill and willingness to serve as the personal representatives of the estate. Creating trusts for children and grandchildren might be a better alternative than distributing assets directly to them, but it is important to make sure that the person who is tasked with serving as trustee is qualified for the position. It is also extremely important for people to decide who will be making medical and financial decisions for them if they lose capacity by creating the necessary power of attorney.

See Julia Satti Cosentino, 7 Ways You Can Prepare for Your First Estate Planning Meeting, Generation to Generation, January 28, 2016.

Special thanks to Brian Cohan (Attorney at Law, Law Offices of Brian J. Cohan, P.C.) for bringing this article to my attention.