How to Create Your Estate Plan: A Checklist

Follow these steps to tackle this daunting task.

Christine Benz  Nov 30, 2022

“Estate planning” is off-putting on so many levels. “Estate” conjures up images of the uber-wealthy setting aside giant tracts of land for the next generation. (Do I even have an estate, you wonder?)

And once you delve deeper and find out that estate planning revolves around organizing your affairs in case of your death or incapacity, the project sounds even less compelling than cleaning the gutters or shredding those giant piles of paperwork that have been accumulating in your office. Then there are the costs: Properly drafted estate plans usually involve attorneys, and they like to get paid for their services.

So, that’s a potentially costly exercise that involves contemplating your demise and may be mainly for rich people anyway. Is it any wonder that so many people put off estate planning, and less than half of the U.S. population has drafted a will?

The good news is that you’ve probably already done a little bit of estate planning; you just may not be aware of it. If you’ve designated beneficiaries for your retirement accounts, you’ve started the estate-planning process. Ditto if you’ve picked a guardian for your young children—even if you’ve not yet formalized it—or compiled a list of all of your household’s liabilities and assets.

8 Steps to Start Your Estate Plan

It’s helpful to think of estate planning as a process, rather than something that’s one and done and begins and ends in an attorney’s office. Crafting an estate plan involves a series of steps, some of which you’ve probably already undertaken and are probably going to need to revisit as your life unfolds.

As you do tackle your estate plan, here are the key jobs to check off your list:

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