4 Things You Should Think About Before Planning Your Estate

Updated October 2026. Four things to sort out before you sit down to plan your estate (a current will, a durable power of attorney, beneficiary designations and guardians), plus how your house actually passes, with IRS and NIA figures checked this month.

Before you plan your estate, think about four things: whether your will is current, who holds your durable power of attorney, what your beneficiary forms say, and who would raise your children. Only 24% of Americans said they had a will in 2025 (Caring.com). As of October 2026, the federal estate tax exclusion is $15,000,000 per person, so for most families the real work is paperwork, not tax.

Jump to: 🪜 An up-to-date will · 🤝 Power of attorney · 💲 Beneficiaries · 🏠 Guardians · ⏱️ What to gather · 📍 Your house · ❓ FAQ

Estate planning is uncomfortable. Nobody likes picturing the day they can’t make their own decisions, or the arguments that might follow. But the plan itself is mostly a handful of documents and a few phone calls. Here’s what to look at before you start, so the meeting with a lawyer (or the evening with a template) goes faster and costs less.

1. Is your will up to date?

If you don’t have one, that’s step one. If you do have a will, check the date on it. Plenty of people signed one when their first child was born and never looked at it again.

Update it after any of these: a marriage, divorce or separation; a birth or adoption; the death of someone named in it; a move to another state; a big change in what you own, like buying or selling a house. Also check that the person you named as executor is still willing and able to do the job.

The National Institute on Aging puts the stakes plainly: if you don’t have a will, your estate is distributed according to the laws in your state. That might match what you’d want. It often doesn’t, especially for blended families, unmarried partners and close friends who aren’t relatives.

2. Who will act for you if you can’t?

A will only works after you die. A durable power of attorney for finances covers the years before that, if illness or an accident leaves you unable to manage money. NIA describes it as naming someone to make financial decisions for you when you can’t. (In Australia and Canada the same idea is called an enduring power of attorney.)

Without one, your family may have to ask a court to appoint a guardian or conservator. That takes time and money, and it’s the kind of thing that splits siblings. The lawyers at Brown & Hobkirk list skipping these documents among the worst estate planning mistakes.

Pair it with health care documents: a living will and a durable power of attorney for health care, which NIA lists as the most common advance directives. Pick people who live reasonably close, keep good records and can say no to pushy relatives.

3. What do your beneficiary forms say?

This is the one people miss. Retirement accounts, life insurance, and bank or brokerage accounts with a pay-on-death (POD) or transfer-on-death (TOD) designation go straight to whoever is named on the form. They skip probate, and they skip your will.

That’s why beneficiary designations can quietly undo an estate plan. An ex-spouse left on a 401(k), a child who has since died, or “my estate” written as the beneficiary can all send money somewhere you didn’t intend. Property held as joint tenants with right of survivorship, or as tenants by the entirety, also passes outside the will.

Make a list of every account and policy, log in or call each one, and write down who’s named. It takes an afternoon. Then make the will and the forms tell the same story.

4. Who would raise your children?

If you have kids under 18, your will is where you name a guardian. Caring.com’s 2025 survey found parents of minor children are the largest group without any estate documents, which is the group that needs them most.

Think about the person’s values, health, age, where they live and whether they could take on the cost. Ask them first. Name a backup, too. Money can be handled separately: many parents leave assets in a trust with a different person as trustee, so the guardian raises the kids and someone else manages the funds.

What should you gather before the first meeting?

A lawyer bills for time, and a template only works if you know your own numbers. So collect the boring stuff first. It also shows you gaps, like the old bank account nobody else knows about.

• A list of every account: checking, savings, retirement, brokerage, life insurance, with who’s named as beneficiary on each.
• Deeds for any real estate, plus the latest mortgage statement and property tax bill.
• Any existing will, trust, power of attorney or health care directive, even if it’s out of date.
• Names and contact details for the people you’d pick as executor, agent, guardian and trustee, plus a backup for each.
• Digital access: where passwords are kept, and which accounts would need to be closed or transferred.

Store the originals somewhere safe and tell your executor where. A perfect will in a drawer no one can find doesn’t help anyone.

How does your house fit into an estate plan?

For most families the house is the biggest asset, and how it’s titled decides what happens to it. A house in your name alone usually goes through probate. A house held with a spouse as joint tenants with right of survivorship passes to the survivor. A house deeded to a living trust passes to whoever the trust names, without probate; here are the reasons for putting your house in a trust and what a trust can’t do.

If a trust sounds right, our guide on how to put your house in a trust covers the deed, and selling a house held in a trust covers what a trustee does later. For the other side of it, read what happens to a property when its owner passes away and how to sell a deceased parent’s house.

Taxes rarely change the plan for a home. The IRS lists the 2026 basic exclusion at $15,000,000 per person under the law signed July 4, 2025 (Public Law 119-21), up from $13,990,000 in 2025. What heirs feel more often is property tax, insurance and upkeep while the estate is open, which is one reason many sell. When they do, a Beycome flat fee MLS listing starts at $99 with $0 due to Beycome at closing, in 17 states and DC, and an executor or trustee can sign with the right authority documents.

Planning the rest of your property, too? Our tips on managing your real estate help, and if you want a lawyer’s help with the documents, read our companion piece on how an estate planning lawyer can help.

Estate planning questions