Wills, estates, and important documents
Preparing a Will: Information to Gather Before Meeting an Attorney
What to gather before you meet an attorney about a will: the people, property, accounts, and debts to list, the choices to think through first, and the questions to ask at the meeting.
A will states who should get your property after your death, who should settle your affairs, and who should care for young children if both parents die. The meeting with an attorney goes much faster, and costs less, when you bring the key facts with you. This guide lists what to gather and what to think through before you sit down.
This guide is part of our Aging at Home hub. Its sister guides cover wills, trusts, and beneficiary designations: questions to ask, creating an important document organizer, and planning access to digital accounts and online records. A related guide is organizing property titles, insurance policies, and account information.
Key takeaways
- Gallup found in 2021 that 46 percent of adults in the United States have a will. Adults age 65 and over are the most likely to have one.
- Gather four lists before the meeting: people, property, accounts, and debts.
- Decide three roles in advance if you can: the executor who settles your estate, a backup executor, and a guardian for young children.
- Some property does not pass through a will at all. Accounts with a named beneficiary, such as life insurance and many retirement accounts, go to that person.
- If you die with no will, state law decides who gets your property. Your wishes do not control the outcome.
What a will does, and what it does not do
A will names the people who should receive your property, and it names an executor. The executor is the person who pays your last bills, files the court papers, and hands out what is left as the will directs. If you have young children, a will also names the guardian you want to raise them.
A will does not cover all you own. Property held with a right of survivorship, such as many homes held by a married couple, passes to the co-owner. Life insurance and retirement accounts with a named beneficiary pass to that person, even if your will says something else. That is why the attorney will ask about beneficiary forms as well as about the will itself. Check those forms before the meeting, and note if any are out of date.
A will also does not take effect while you live. It speaks only at death, and you can change it at any time while you can still make your own choices.
The four lists to gather
First, the people list. Write the full legal names and home towns of your spouse, your children, and any other person you may name in the will. Add the names of your chosen executor and backup executor, and of the guardian and backup guardian for young children. If a child has special needs, note that too, since it can change how a share should be left.
Second, the property list. List your home and any other land or homes you own, with a note of whose names are on each deed. Add cars, and any items of real value or strong family meaning: jewelry, tools, art, or a family home place. Note who you would like to get each special item.
Third, the accounts list. List bank accounts, investment accounts, and retirement accounts, with the name of each firm. Note which accounts name a beneficiary and who that person is. Add life insurance policies, with the firm name and the beneficiary on each.
Fourth, the debts list. List what you owe: a home loan, car loans, credit cards, and any other debts. The estate pays valid debts before shares go out, so the attorney needs the full picture, not just the assets.
Choices to think through first
Think about how you want shares split. Equal shares for children is the most common choice, but it is not the only one. Think about gifts to charity, if any. Think about what should happen if a person you name dies before you. Think about whether a young person's share should be held by an adult for a time, and until what age.
Also think about your digital life. Email, photos, and online accounts sit behind passwords. Note which accounts exist and where your password list is kept. Do not put passwords in the will itself, since a will can become a public court record.
Questions to ask at the meeting
Ask the attorney to flag any part of your plan that state law may limit. Rules on what a spouse must receive, and on how a will is signed, differ by state.
- What will the full work cost, in writing, before we start?
- How should the will be signed and witnessed under our state law so it holds up?
- Where should the signed will be kept, and who should know where it is?
- What life changes should bring me back to update it?
- Do my beneficiary forms match the plan in this will?
Who covers what
- Original Medicare: does not pay for wills or other legal drafting. Medicare covers health care, not legal work.
- Medicaid: does not pay for wills or legal drafting either. Free and low-cost legal help does exist. Local legal aid offices and Area Agencies on Aging can point older adults to low-cost help, and state bar groups run lawyer referral services.
- Private pay: most wills are paid out of pocket. The fee depends on how complex your affairs are. Gathering the four lists first cuts the time you pay for, since the attorney starts with your facts in hand instead of hunting for them.
What happens after the meeting
Once you sign the will, keep the signed original in a safe place your executor can reach. Tell your executor where it is. A will locked in a box no one can open can slow the court work it was meant to speed up. Give the attorney's name and phone number to your executor as well, since the firm that drafted the will can help the executor start the court process.
Review the will after big life changes: a marriage, a divorce, a death in the family, the birth of a grandchild, or a move to a new state. State law shapes how a will is read, and a move can change which rules apply to parts of your plan. A short review every few years keeps the document matched to your life as it stands, not as it stood when you signed.
One more list: where things are kept
Add a fifth short list to the four above: where your key papers live. Note where the deed, the car title, the insurance policies, and the account statements are kept, and who may open the place where they sit. This list is not part of the will. It is a map for your executor, who must find each item before the estate can be settled. Keep the map with the document organizer, and update it when an account moves or a policy is replaced. Families lose weeks when no one knows where a title or a policy is stored. The map costs an hour to make and saves that time many times over.
Sample Situation
Frank, age 76, and his wife June decide to update the will they made twenty years ago. Before the meeting, they build the four lists on paper. They find that an old life policy still names Frank's brother, who died last year, and a bank account names no beneficiary at all. They choose their daughter as executor and their son as backup. At the meeting, the attorney works from their lists, fixes the beneficiary forms, and drafts the new will in one visit. Frank and June pay for one meeting of work, not three.
Your next step
A will is one part of how care and costs get handled over time. Our Paying for Care section walks through who pays for what when care needs grow.
Sources
Next step on Care and Living Guide
Paying for care — See who pays for care — Medicare, Medicaid, and private pay.