The Estate Planning Conversation Checklist
Do the people named in your estate plan actually know what you are asking them to do? Download the checklist that helps turn signed documents into a plan your family can actually use.
Download the Free Checklist
Get the 15-question handoff diagnostic, Handoff Readiness Rating, and conversation framework created for Florida families, investors, professionals, and business owners.
Educational use only. This checklist does not constitute legal or tax advice.
Your estate plan has a handoff moment.
A successor trustee may need to manage money. An agent may need to sign a deed. A health care surrogate may need to make a decision during a medical emergency.
Those people cannot act confidently if the first time they learn about their role is when you are no longer able to explain it.
A signed plan is not always a usable plan.
Estate planning documents grant authority, but they rarely explain your intent, where the originals are stored, how your financial life works, or which professional should be called first.
The checklist helps identify whether your plan has been fully handed off or merely placed in a folder.
Close the gaps while every conversation can still be calm.
The download guides you through the most important communication and readiness questions without requiring you to disclose private financial details to everyone involved.
The People Named in Your Plan
Review whether your successor trustee, power-of-attorney agent, health care surrogate, guardian, executor, and backup choices know about their roles.
Document and Account Access
Consider whether someone trusted knows where the original documents, account map, advisor contacts, and essential digital information can be found.
Your Intent and Expectations
Prepare for the conversations that explain what you want, who should act, and where they should turn for professional guidance.
Built for people who already have an estate plan.
This checklist is especially useful when the legal documents exist, but the practical handoff has never been completed.
This checklist may be valuable if you:
- Signed your estate plan more than two years ago
- Have never briefed your successor trustee
- Named an agent or surrogate without asking them first
- Keep important information on a work laptop
- Are the only person who understands the family finances
- Have a successor who lives outside Florida
- Own a business or investment real estate
- Have original documents stored somewhere only you can access
- Need to review beneficiary designations
- Want to make the conversation easier for your family
Your Handoff Readiness Rating
Answer 15 questions to see whether the people, documents, access points, and conversations behind your plan appear ready or may need attention.
Documents grant authority. Conversations create readiness.
A person may be legally named to act without knowing where the plan is stored, which attorney prepared it, whether they are willing to serve, or what your wishes actually are.
The checklist helps you prepare a focused conversation without turning it into a lengthy family meeting or revealing every detail of your balance sheet.