Guides

Estate planning checklist: before death

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General information, not legal advice. Last reviewed Oct 29, 2026.

1. Make a will that meets your state’s signing rules: NH · CA · TX · FL · OH
2. Sign a financial power of attorney: NH · CA · TX · FL · OH
3. Sign a medical power of attorney / advance directive: NH · CA · TX · FL · OH
4. Sign a HIPAA authorization so family can talk to your doctors (often included in the medical directive).
5. Review beneficiary designations: retirement accounts, life insurance, and POD/TOD bank and brokerage accounts.
6. Decide how real estate will pass: a transfer on death deed where allowed (NH · CA · TX · FL · OH), or a trust.
7. Name a guardian for minor children in your will.
8. Make a list of assets, accounts and debts and where statements are kept.
9. Make a digital accounts plan: list accounts and who should handle them. Don’t write passwords in your will; use a password manager’s emergency-access feature instead.
10. Tell your executor where the originals are kept (will, deeds, POAs, insurance policies).
11. Think about long-term care costs: Medicaid 5-year look-back.
12. Know the tax picture: gift limits, compare state estate taxes.
13. Funeral wishes: write them down; if you prepay, read Prepaying a funeral: pros and cons. Veterans: military honors and VA burial benefits.
14. Review everything every few years and after marriage, divorce, a birth or death, a move to another state, or a big change in assets.

Next: Executor checklist: after a death · When do you need probate?