Enter 2026 with confidence that if something were to happen to you, you know exactly what would happen to every penny you’ve earned.
The New Year is a time of reflecting on the past and planning for the future. Perhaps you’ve recently planned your estate and are trying to set up a structure that will care for your loved ones if something were to happen to you.
Apart from getting a solid estate plan (see our guide: Ten Steps to a Solid Estate Plan), the most important thing you can do is to keep a list of your assets complete and current. We advise most of our clients that a living-trust based estate plan will serve their needs and wishes the best. However, whether you already have a trust, have no estate plan at all, or are somewhere in the middle, we recommend that you follow these two steps.
Download: Ten Steps to a Solid Estate Plan
Create a List of Your Assets
Your loved ones can’t read your mind. One of the first steps in estate administration is figuring out which assets exist. Whoever is administering your estate will have to conduct a search for all assets which you may have owned. Without a list of your assets, they will have to painstakingly comb through your files, emails, and mail, to determine what you owned at the time of your death.
This part of the administration can take a great deal of time and effort, especially when grieving the loss of a loved one.
The simple solution is for you to create and maintain a document where you list all your assets, including that old 401(k) that you’ve been meaning to roll over after you changed jobs. Instead of leaving your loved ones a treasure hunt, leave them a clear list of what you own and where they can find it. File this list with your estate documents (and make sure they know where you keep those), and be sure to update the list regularly.
Review Your Beneficiary Information
When creating (or reviewing) your asset list, check for any accounts with beneficiary designations. This is especially important if you have a trust-based estate plan, or if something important has changed in your family dynamic (i.e. birth of another child, a breakdown in close family relationships, etc.).
If you have a trust-based estate plan, make sure that all of your titled assets are “funded” into your trust in order to avoid probate and ensure that the plan in your trust is carried out. This means that either the trust should be the owner of the asset, or the trust is listed as a beneficiary of the asset. If a titled asset is left in your name at death, without a co-owner or beneficiary, it will go to probate, which will defeat the purpose of your living trust. Therefore, as you review your titled assets, make sure that either the owner or beneficiary of that asset is your trust, in order to take full advantage of your trust-based estate plan.
While you are creating your asset list, pay attention to any accounts that may have a close family member as the beneficiary, especially if you’ve had a breakdown in that relationship. Whether you’re going through a separation or divorce, or are now estranged from a child or parent, you may want to reconsider having them listed as a beneficiary. It’s far too common that people leave an ex-spouse as a beneficiary which cannot be changed after you pass away.
Wherever you are in the estate planning process, it’s important to make sure that you know exactly where your assets are going upon your death, and to communicate that efficiently to your loved ones. We have a free asset organizer for you to download and use to organize your assets and leave your loved ones the gift of an easy estate administration. If you don’t yet have an estate plan, or are considering making some changes to your existing plan, contact our office to schedule an appointment or to get the date for our next free seminar.
Download: Free Asset Organizer