What Information Do You Need to Create an Estate Plan in Texas?

Creating an estate plan is an important step toward protecting your assets, making your wishes known, and providing clarity for the people you love to carry out your wishes. But before an attorney can help you create a Will or Trust that fits your needs, you'll need to gather the necessary information.

For many people, this is one of the most intimidating parts of estate planning.

What documents do you need? What information should you have about your assets? What about debts? What decisions do you need to make about your beneficiaries? And where are you supposed to keep track of everything?

It can feel like a lot. However, understanding what you need and using free resources like our Estate Planning Questionnaire can help you organize the key details of your estate and prepare thoroughly to assist your attorney in drafting your estate plan.

Here's what you'll want to gather to draw up an efficient estate plan in Texas.

1. Personal Information For You & Your Spouse

Start by providing the basic personal information available for yourself and your spouse, if applicable. This typically includes:

• Name, date of birth, and Social Security number
• Residence
• Citizenship
• Children and grandchildren
• Marital history
• And more

This information helps your attorney prepare your estate-planning documents accurately and understand your family circumstances.

2. Your Existing Legal Documents

Next, collect any important legal and financial documents you already have. These can give your attorney valuable information about your current plan and help identify documents that may need to be updated.

Depending on your circumstances, this may include:

• An existing Will or Trust
• A health care power of attorney
• A durable power of attorney
• Recent financial statements
• Deeds, land contracts, or other real estate documents
• Frequent flyer or travel rewards account information
• Federal and state tax returns from the last three years
• Information about mortgages and other debts

Don't worry if you aren't sure whether a particular document is relevant. The goal at this stage is simply to gather what you have so you and your attorney can review it together. If more information is needed, the attorney will let you know.

3. Your Wishes For Your Estate

Because estate planning focuses on deciding what you want to happen to your assets and who you want to benefit from your estate, you’ll need to identify what your wishes are before you can draw up a Will or Trust.

Who would you like to inherit your property? Are there specific assets or personal belongings you want to leave to particular people? Who should receive your assets if a primary beneficiary dies before you?

You may also have other wishes or concerns to discuss with your attorney, such as placing restrictions on when a beneficiary can receive their inheritance. You may not want your spouse to be able to change their Will after your death to make different provisions for distribution of what you left to your spouse than what you anticipated.

You don't necessarily need to have every decision finalized before your appointment. Your attorney will help explain your options and identify issues you may not have considered. But knowing what matters most to you can make the conversation much more productive.

4. A Summary Of Your Assets

One of the most important pieces of information you'll provide is an overview of what you own.

Depending on your situation, you may have:

• Real estate
• Bank accounts
• Investment and retirement accounts
• Business interests
• Vehicles
• Personal property
• Life insurance
• Other financial accounts or valuable property

You don't need to create a complicated financial inventory initially. However, if your assets are numerous and complicated, your attorney may ask you to prepare a spreadsheet or something similar. The goal is to give your attorney a reasonably complete picture of your estate so important assets aren't overlooked during the planning process.

5. A Summary Of Your Liabilities

It's also important to consider what you owe. Make a list of significant debts and other liabilities, such as mortgages, loans, credit card debts, or other financial obligations.

Understanding both your assets and your liabilities gives your attorney a more complete picture of your financial situation and can help identify issues you may need to address in your estate plan.

6. Your Sources Of Cash Flow

Another important consideration is how money comes into your household. Be prepared to identify your sources of cash flow, as well as those of your spouse. This may include:

• Employment income
• Retirement income
• Social Security
• Investments
• Business income
• Rental income
• Other sources

Reviewing your cash flow can provide important context about your financial situation and your plans for the future.

Gathering All Of This Information Can Feel Overwhelming

If you're looking at this list and thinking, "That's a lot of information," you're not wrong. Estate planning involves many different pieces, and it can be difficult to know where to start. You may have documents stored in different places, financial information spread across multiple accounts, and important details that you simply haven't thought about in years. Now is the time to pull this all together so your heirs are not left searching for all of this, and there is no estate plan to deal with assets and debts.

That's why we've created our updated Estate Planning Questionnaire.

Rather than trying to remember everything during your appointment, you can use the questionnaire to work through the information at your own pace. It gives you a place to write down your personal information, wishes, assets, liabilities, cash flow, and important documents so you can keep everything organized in one place.

You don't have to complete everything in one sitting. You can gather your documents, look through your records, and fill out the questionnaire as you go. Organizing the information before your planning meeting also gives you time to think about questions or decisions you'd like to discuss with your attorney.

The goal of an estate plan is to create documents that reflect your wishes and address the circumstances that matter to you. The more complete the information you provide, the better your attorney can understand your situation and help you determine what type of planning may fit your wishes.

Please remember that your Estate Planning Questionnaire isn't a substitute for legal advice, and you don't need to know exactly what your Will or Trust should say before meeting with an attorney. Instead, think of it as a tool to help you prepare for that conversation.

A little organization ahead of time can make the estate-planning process feel much less overwhelming.

Get Adair's Free Estate Planning Questionnaire

If you're ready to start preparing your estate plan, you don't have to figure out where to begin on your own.

Download your copy of the Estate Planning Questionnaire, work through it at your own pace, and bring the completed questionnaire and relevant documents to your estate-planning meeting. You'll be better prepared to answer questions, discuss your wishes, and work with your attorney to create an estate plan designed around your needs.

Download Adair Buckner's free Estate Planning Questionnaire today and take the first step toward organizing your estate plan.

DOWNLOAD THE ESTATE PLANNING QUESTIONNAIRE NOW