Nobody wants to think about making their final arrangements, but planning ahead can save your loved ones from confusion during an extremely difficult time. Creating an estate plan helps to answer some of the important questions ahead of time:
- Who inherits what?
- How should we handle your remembrance and other end-of-life issues?
- How do we log in to your accounts and devices to cancel subscriptions and retrieve important documents and media?
You may think you don’t have enough assets to warrant an estate plan. But if you don’t have a will in place when you pass away, your assets will be distributed according to the law, not your wishes.
An estate plan isn’t just about what happens to your assets after you pass away. It can also include a living will, power of attorney, and other documents that would go into effect if you were to be incapacitated.
This post will not cover every step to create a digital estate plan, but it will provide an overview of what’s needed and tools that can help you put it together.
What Goes Into an Estate Plan?
Some documents are expected to be part of an estate plan, but you can add documents as needed.
Here are the expected documents:
- Healthcare Power of Attorney: designates someone to make health decisions on your behalf if you are incapacitated
- Financial Power of Attorney: designates someone to make financial decisions on your behalf if you are incapacitated
- Last Will and Testament: designates an executor and includes details on how to distribute your assets
- Living Will: communicates your end-of-life preferences
- Living Trust: transfers your assets into a trust and lists instructions for managing them. It takes effect during your lifetime. This option avoids the probate step, which is required for a last will and testament.
Everyone’s situation is different, and state laws vary, so be sure to confirm your requirements.
Some other documents you may want to update and/or include:
- Beneficiaries for retirement and other accounts
- A letter of intent to your executor providing guidance for distributing or managing your assets
- Letters or videos to survivors
- Digital logins/passwords (You can also set a legacy contact for many online accounts.) Don’t forget any digital currency you may hold.
- Titles and deeds
- Insurance policies and financial accounts
- Funeral instructions
Digital Planning Tools
Looking at the list might be overwhelming, especially if you feel you may be running out of time. These quizzes from digital estate planning companies can help you decide whether you need a will or a trust, which is a good first step. US LegalWills quiz | Trust & Will quiz
To get something in place before working with an attorney, consider using a template from Gale LegalForms or an online will-maker. Though I cannot officially endorse any particular software, some examples of well-reviewed will-makers include:
You may also want to explore digital vaults to store important digital documents and credentials. Some will-making tools offer them as an add-on. Though they often carry a subscription cost, digital vaults offer secure, encrypted cloud storage and give you control over sharing. Some digital vaults bundle guided estate planning into their subscriptions. Three well-reviewed options are AARP Digital Vault , LegalZoom, and GoodTrust.
Considerations
Here are some things to consider before choosing a tool or service.
- Will generic templates suffice, or do I have a lot of information to customize?
- Will this be the final copy, or are you creating a rough draft to bring to a lawyer?
- The privacy policy of the tool or service. Don’t skip this step, especially if it is a digital vault. There is a lot of sensitive information in your estate documents, and you don’t want it shared with third parties.
Even if you have a simple estate plan, you may want to touch base with an attorney. They can help you:
- Navigate the finer details of your documents, especially if assets are complex
- Suggest edits to make sure your documents will hold up in court
- Avoid common mistakes to streamline the probate process
- File your documents with the court
Summary
Estate planning is important, and while it may be difficult, digital tools can help make it easier. If you want more information, Senior Planet has posted a one-hour Q&A video titled Estate Planning Made Easy.
