Like many, you might have the best intentions of ” getting your affairs in order .”
Year after year, it lands on your list of resolutions. Yet, every December, it rolls over, untouched, to the next year.
You aren’t alone. Trust & Will’s 2026 Estate Planning Report , a survey of 5,000 U.S. adults, found that just 26% of us have a will, down from 31% a year earlier, and that 56% have no estate planning documents at all.
Estate planning feels uncomfortable for two reasons:
It’s a topic most of us know little about
It forces us to sit with our own mortality
The consequences of this procrastination are significant and affect those you love during an already difficult time.
About Adviser Intel
The author of this article is a participant in Kiplinger’s Adviser Intel program, a curated network of trusted financial professionals who share expert insights on wealth building and preservation. Contributors, including fiduciary financial planners, wealth managers, CEOs and attorneys, provide actionable advice about retirement planning, estate planning, tax strategies and more. Experts are invited to contribute and do not pay to be included, so you can trust their advice is honest and valuable.
Without a will or trust, state law decides who receives your assets, not you. That process, called intestate succession, might not reflect what you would’ve chosen, and it can drag out for months or years in probate court , with legal fees eating into what’s left behind.
For high-net-worth individuals , the stakes are even higher: More assets, more complexity and possibly blended families or business interests that default rules weren’t designed to handle well.
I’m here to help you break the cycle of avoidance, procrastination and (let’s face it) fear. Here are some important basics to help you get started.
1. Your will: The foundation and the safety net
A will is the document most people picture when they think about estate planning , and it remains the foundation. It directs who receives what, it names the executor who will carry out your wishes, and it’s the only document that can name a guardian for minor children.
If you do nothing else on this list, do this one. It has two limits worth knowing.
Probate. A will must pass through the public court process that a trust is built to avoid.
Retirement accounts and life insurance don’t pass under your will, which surprises people. Those assets go to whoever is named on the beneficiary form, no matter what your will says.
If you’re married, there is one more decision to make here. It’s a common instinct for married couples to want a single, shared document. Some states don’t permit a joint will, and even when one is valid, estate attorneys generally advise against it.
Two separate wills give each spouse independent flexibility to make changes. A joint will can lock in original terms for the surviving spouse even if circumstances dramatically change.
Two wills, written to complement each other, often referred to as “mirror wills,” achieve the same shared intent with far more clarity.
2. Revocable living trusts: Skipping probate
A revocable living trust is a legal structure you create to hold your assets, such as your home, investment accounts and business interests. You control it, can change it anytime and continue managing everything exactly as before.
Its key benefit is that assets titled in the trust’s name bypass probate entirely when you pass away, transferring directly to your beneficiaries without court supervision.
Settling a trust still takes time, but it’s not dependent on a court’s calendar. That means a faster, smoother transition for your heirs and privacy as well, since probate records are public. A revocable living trust is often the centerpiece of a modern estate plan.
If you set one up, your will then takes a particular form alongside it, called a “pour-over” will. Any assets you forgot to formally move into your trust or acquired shortly before your death, are “poured over” into it through the will, so they are ultimately distributed according to your wishes.
This safety net ensures any overlooked assets don’t fall back into intestate succession. As a backstop, it doesn’t replace the trust; it completes it.
There is one misconception worth clearing up. A revocable trust keeps your estate out of probate, but it does not reduce estate tax.
The reassuring news is that most families don’t owe any. The federal exemption was increased to $15 million per person in 2026, or up to $30 million for a married couple.
However, state thresholds vary. New York taxes estates above $7.35 million in 2026, and because of the state’s “cliff,” an estate worth more than 105% of that figure, roughly $7.72 million, loses the exemption entirely and is taxed from the first dollar.
Consider the limits and estate tax rules of your own state.
3. Power of attorney: Your trusted ‘agent’
Everything up to this point concerns what happens after you’re gone. But the next four documents address a time when you’re alive but unable to act or make decisions for yourself, whether because of cognitive decline as you age or a sudden accident or illness.
To prepare for such a time, a financial power of attorney lets you appoint someone who will make decisions on your behalf.
This is an important step to keeping your financial and legal matters on track. It:
Removes friction with banks and brokerages
Keeps bill paying, investment management and real estate or business matters moving without interruption
Can spare your family a court-supervised guardianship or conservatorship, which is public, slow and expensive
Keep in mind that many banks will honor only their own form, so ask each institution what it requires while you’re still able to sign.
4. Healthcare directives: A message for your loved ones
A healthcare directive , sometimes called a living will, is a written statement of your medical wishes when you can’t advocate for yourself.
Rather than leaving loved ones with the burden of critical decisions such as whether you’d want life support, resuscitation or other invasive interventions, a healthcare directive provides them with a roadmap.
It records your values and expectations, so that if a wrenching decision ever must be made, your family is carrying out your wishes rather than guessing at them under pressure.
5. Healthcare proxies: Naming your decision-maker
While a directive states your wishes, a healthcare proxy (also called a durable power of attorney for healthcare ) names a specific person to make medical decisions on your behalf if you’re incapacitated.
Real medical situations are often fluid and require judgment calls. Your healthcare directive provides information and guidance for these decisions but can’t lay out every scenario that could arise.
Choosing someone who knows you well and can act calmly under pressure matters more than choosing the “obvious” family member. Name the person who can ask a doctor a hard question, then live with the answer.
Tell the people you didn’t name why you chose as you did while you can still explain it yourself.
6. HIPAA authorization: The one people skip
Naming a proxy is not quite the same as making sure the people who love you can find out how you are. Federal medical privacy law limits who a provider may share your information with, and a HIPAA authorization is the short form that names the people your doctors may speak with freely.
Your proxy has a right to what they need once their authority is in effect, but many proxies are written to take effect only after a physician documents that you can’t decide for yourself, and obtaining that determination can require the very records the proxy is not yet entitled to see.
The authorization removes that circularity. It can also cover anyone you’d like to include, such as a sibling or an adult child. It’s usually signed at the same time as the proxy and takes a few minutes. It’s often a missed step because it feels redundant.
Looking for expert tips to grow and preserve your wealth? Sign up for Adviser Intel , our free, twice-weekly newsletter.
Check-ins: Not a set-it-and-forget-it
An estate plan isn’t a one-time project . Marriages, divorces, births, business growth and moves to a new state can all affect whether your plan still works, or whether it’s even valid.
Review your plan every three to five years, and immediately after any major life event. A proxy who has moved out of your life or a beneficiary who has already died, can undo years of careful planning.
There’s no time like the present: Check it off the list
Most people don’t act until something forces the issue, but that might be too late. Don’t wait for a push. Be prepared and give yourself the luxury of knowing that your estate plan is solidly in place.
The topic might be uncomfortable, but the process itself is usually far more straightforward than the anxiety that not having a plan creates.
If you do only three things this month, do these.
First, pull up the beneficiary designations on every retirement account and life insurance policy you own and confirm that each one names the person you would name today. Those forms override your will, and a former spouse or a long-deceased parent still sitting on a 401(k) form is one of the most common ways an otherwise sound plan fails.
Second, write down what you own and how each asset is titled , because titling, not intention, determines what passes through probate.
Third, choose your healthcare proxy and your financial agent, ask whether they’re willing to serve, and tell them where the documents will be kept.
Do that much, and an estate planning attorney can build the rest around decisions you’ve already made, which is faster and less expensive than starting from a blank page. Your loved ones will be glad you did.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, tax or financial advice. Estate planning laws vary by state, and individual circumstances differ significantly. Please consult a qualified estate planning attorney or financial adviser before making decisions about your will, trust or healthcare directives.
Related Content
I’m an Estate Planning Attorney: These Are the Two Legal Documents Everyone Should Have
An Estate Planning Attorney’s Guide to the Importance of POAs
A Financial Planner’s Guide to 4 Tools That Help Advisers Take Estate Planning to the Next Level
An Attorney’s Guide to Your Evolving Estate Plan: Set-It-and-Forget-It Won’t Work
How to Put Your IRA to Work for Change and to Help the Next Generation, Courtesy of an Investment Adviser
This article was written by and presents the views of our contributing adviser, not the Kiplinger editorial staff. You can check adviser records with the SEC or with FINRA .
