ESTATE PLANNING QUESTIONNAIRE

Advance Planning is vital to make sure that your financial and emotional goals are met when the unfortunate inevitably happens.

The questionnaire below will help you organize your assets and where you want them to go after your death.   Assets left out of an estate plan, regardless of the reason, will have to be probated unless they fall into a state’s exemptions from probate such as being in joint tenancy or in a trust of some type. Planning now, can help avoid problems, if any of your heirs want to contest the will, by saying you were not mentally able (competent) to make the plans you wanted to make.

It is not uncommon for a person to forget a piece of property inherited years earlier from old Uncle Bill in Tulsa or Aunt Emily in Maine. Then after death, the person’s heirs discover the existence of the forgotten property. Thereafter, the heirs are forced to spend thousands of dollars needlessly to probate the property to place the title in their names.

See our page on Sample Wills and scroll down to learn about Intestate Succession if you don’t have a will! 

A. BACKGROUND INFORMATION

1. Name (include all other names once used, i.e. maiden) __________________________

1. Address and phone number (home and business) ___________________________________________________________

3. Employer’s name, address and phone number: ______________________________________________________________

4. Spouse’s employer’s name, address and phone number: ______________________________________________________

5. Occupation:____________________________

6. Spouse’s occupation:__________________

7. Social security number:___________________

8. Spouse’s social security number:___________

9. Former military service (branch and dates of service): ______________________________________________________

10. Date and place of birth:___________________

11. Name of spouse:_________________________

12. Date and place of spouse’s birth: _____________

13. Date and place of marriage: ____________

14. Length of residency in the state: _________________

1. Previous marriages for each spouse: _____________

16. Children:_______________________________

17. Children of spouse (step-children):__________

18. Deceased children: _____________________

19. Grandchildren:_________________________

20. Grandchildren of spouse: ___________________

21. Parents and address: _____________________________ __________________________________________________

22. Parents of spouse and address: ______________________

23. Last will:

a. Date executed:___________________________________

b . Location of original: __________________________ _________________________________________________

c. Attorney who prepared will, address, phone: _____

_________________________________________________

B. PROPERTY

1. Real property (for each piece of real property state):

a. (1) Type of property: _______________________________

(2) Location of property: ___________________________

_________________________________________________

(3) Holder and amount of liens on the property:______

_________________________________________________

(4) Fair market value of the property not deducting for the liens: ______________________________________

(5) Date of purchase and original amount: ___________

_________________________________________________

(6) How is title to the property taken? (What does it say on the deed? separate property, joint tenancy,

tenancy in the entirety, tenancy in common): ________________________________________

b. (1) Type of property: _______________________________

(2) Location of property: ___________________________

(3) Holder and amount of liens on the property:

_________________________________________________

(4) Fair market value of the property not deducting for the liens: ______________________________________

_________________________________________________

(5) Date of purchase and original amount:____________

_________________________________________________

(6) How is title to the property taken? (What does it say on the deed? separate property, joint tenancy,

tenancy by the entirety, tenancy in common): ________________________________________

_________________________________________________

c. (1) Type of property: _______________________________

(2) Location of property:____________________________

_________________________________________________

(3) Holder and amount of liens on the property: _____

_______________________________________________

(4) Fair market value of the property not deducting for the liens: ______________________________________ Source  MICHAEL LYNN GABRIEL, Esq., *  Stroh…

• Beneficiary under 18? Is that permitted?
• Estate & Gift Taxes
• FAQ’s
• Health Care Directives
• Living Trust
  • Bank Accounts into a Trust?
  • Charitable Remainder Trust
  • Executor – Successor Trustee – What are the duties?
  • Sample California Will – Where does your stuff go?
    • Probate
      • FAQ’s Probate
    • Will Contests – Disinherit a child
  • Special Needs Trust
• Questionnaire for Estate Planning