Do I need to work with a financial advisor and an estate planning attorney on my estate plan? This is a common question for those beginning their estate planning journey. The short answer? Both professionals can play a crucial role in securing your financial future.  

Start with a Financial Planner

Why begin with a financial planner? Because they serve as a trusted advisor, guiding you through key decisions before you meet with an estate planning attorney. A financial planner helps you clarify your goals—how you want your estate to be distributed, who should care for your children if needed, and who will make financial or medical decisions on your behalf if you’re unable to.

Additionally, a financial planner can help you explore tax strategies to preserve your estate and ensure your assets are allocated efficiently. Taking the time to think through these details upfront allows you to make the most of your time with an attorney, ensuring your legal documents align with your long-term vision.

Preparing to Meet with Your Financial Planner

• Collect any previous estate planning documents to bring with you.
• Create a list of your family members and intended beneficiaries particularly your dependents, if you haven’t provided that information before. This should include the ages of each person. Minors will need a custodian until they reach the age of majority, for example.
• Have you considered who would become the guardian for any minor children or person under your care? These are important discussions for you to start having right now.
• Make sure to have a current list of assets, how they are titled, if beneficiaries are designated and approximate value. Collect supporting documents. Your current financial planner can assist you in gathering these details too.
• Also provide a list of your liabilities – what expenses do you anticipate will need to be paid by your estate?
• What life insurance do you have and what are the specifics of the policy – amount, beneficiary, etc.? Again, bring the actual documents so that questions can be answered easily.

Meeting with Your Financial Planner

Meet with your financial planner to review the documents you collected and start getting organized to meet with an Estate Attorney. Discuss your thoughts around topics such as the following:

Who do you want to be the executor of your estate? The executor will manage the affairs of your estate including things such as distributing assets, paying debts and filing tax returns. You should have a secondary person to nominate if the first one is not able to serve as your executor – this is true for any role you designate in your estate plan.

Who would you appoint as the trustee(s)? If you are setting up a trust, who would you appoint after you are no longer willing or able to serve in that role?

How do you want your assets to be divided among your heirs?  Creating a graph or visual layout of this can be very helpful. You’ll need to consider various scenarios (such as if a beneficiary predeceases you) and how you would want those situations handled. 

• Do you have any particular bequests that are important to you? A specific grandchild that you want to inherit the family piano, for example?
• Are there any family dynamics or situations you want considered? Is there a child with special needs or receiving government assistance?
• Do you have any charitable requests?
• For helpful tips on dividing assets among your heirs, read, “How ‘Fair’ is Your Estate Plan?”

Other topics to consider and think about when meeting with your financial planner:

• Who would step in to manage your finances if you were not able to do so? You will want to discuss a Power of Attorney (POA) to authorize a trusted person to act on your behalf for legal or financial matters.
• Do you want to create any advanced directives for your health care such as a living will? What guidance will you give them for making decisions? What life prolonging measures are desired by you?
• What requests do you have for your death? Would you prefer cremation, burial or something else such as having your body donated to science?
• Are there any special considerations for your estate planning such as if you own a business or intellectual property?
• Are there any divorce agreements or prenuptial agreements to bring with you when you meet with the attorney?
• What about digital assets or accounts you hold such as at X or Facebook?  How should those be handled?

Preparing to Meet with Your Estate Attorney

• Identify the right estate planning attorney for you. Your financial planner may have some recommendations, and you can also seek out referrals from trusted sources.
• After your discussions, you and your financial planner can develop a list of questions that you should ask the attorney and organize everything for your meeting with him or her.
• Schedule a meeting with the estate planning attorney.
• Fill out all paperwork or online questionnaires required from the attorney’s office prior to your meeting. You may also need to upload or bring some documents for their reference. Are there any questions from the intake process that you haven’t thought about before?  Feel free to reach out to your financial planner to discuss if needed.

Meeting with the Estate Planning Attorney

• Be well organized for your meeting. Bring all required documents, your notes and the list of any questions that you still have that need to be answered by the attorney.
• When you receive your estate planning documents, thoroughly review them for accuracy.  These can be very lengthy so take breaks as you need them – it’s very important to go through them carefully. If you have any questions or need changes, don’t hesitate to ask your attorney.
• After the documents are finalized, you will sign as directed by the attorney.

Once you have completed the process, let your executor and other important people know where the final documents are stored. Provide copies as appropriate, including sending your financial planner a copy of the documents for their reference. You should update any beneficiary designations or account registrations that are needed to coordinate with your estate plan. This is important to ensure assets will flow out of the estate as intended.

In the future, you’ll want to revisit your estate plan on a periodic basis to ensure it still fits your needs or determine if it needs to be revised.