Estate Planning Basics: Your Complete DIY Checklist for 2026

Estate planning is the process of deciding what happens to your money, property, healthcare, and dependents if you die or become unable to make decisions. It is not reserved for wealthy families or retirees. If you own a car, rent an apartment, have a bank account, or care about who would raise your children, you already have reasons to create a plan.

The problem is that most people put it off. According to a 2024 Caring.com survey, only 32 percent of American adults have estate planning documents in place. The rest are leaving critical decisions to state law, probate courts, and judges who have never met their families.

This guide breaks estate planning into plain, practical steps. Use it as a checklist. You can complete everything yourself using an online platform, or use it as preparation before meeting with an attorney. Either way, understanding the basics puts you in control.

What Is Estate Planning?

Estate planning is the act of creating legal documents that answer three questions: who gets your assets, who makes decisions for you if you cannot, and who takes care of your dependents.

Your "estate" is not just real estate. It includes bank accounts, retirement accounts, vehicles, investments, life insurance, personal belongings, digital accounts, and anything else of value you own or have a beneficiary interest in.

A complete estate plan typically includes a will, a living trust, powers of attorney, healthcare directives, and updated beneficiary designations. Each document serves a different purpose, and most families need several of them working together.

The 6 Core Estate Planning Documents

Before jumping into the checklist, it helps to understand what each document does and why it matters. Here is a quick overview of the building blocks.

1. Last Will and Testament

A will is a legal document that states who receives your property after you die and who you want to serve as guardian for your minor children. It also names an executor, the person responsible for carrying out your instructions.

A will only takes effect after death, and in most states it goes through probate, which is a court-supervised process that can take months and cost your family money. A will is essential, but on its own, it may not be enough for families who want to avoid probate or keep their affairs private.

2. Revocable Living Trust

A living trust is a legal structure you create during your lifetime to hold ownership of your assets. You typically serve as your own trustee, meaning you keep full control. When you pass away or become incapacitated, a successor trustee you chose steps in and distributes assets according to your instructions, without going through probate.

Living trusts are especially useful if you own real estate, want to keep your estate private, or want to reduce the burden on your family. They work alongside a will, not as a replacement.

If you are unsure whether a trust makes sense for your situation, this guide on whether you need a living trust walks through the most common scenarios.

3. Durable Financial Power of Attorney

A durable financial power of attorney names someone you trust to handle your finances if you become unable to manage them yourself. This could include paying bills, managing investments, filing taxes, or handling insurance claims.

Without one, your family may need to go to court to get authority to manage your money, even for routine expenses. The process is called conservatorship or guardianship depending on the state, and it is time-consuming and expensive.

4. Medical Power of Attorney

A medical power of attorney, sometimes called a healthcare proxy, names the person who can make medical decisions on your behalf if you cannot communicate. This person talks to doctors, reviews treatment options, and makes choices based on your wishes.

Choosing this person carefully matters. They should understand your values and be willing to advocate for your preferences, even under pressure. Our guide to medical powers of attorney covers how to choose the right person and what to discuss with them.

5. Advance Healthcare Directive (Living Will)

An advance healthcare directive, also known as a living will, is a written document that outlines your preferences for medical treatment in situations where you cannot speak for yourself. It typically covers life support, resuscitation, pain management, and organ donation.

A living will and a medical power of attorney work together. The living will provides written instructions. The medical power of attorney names the person who can interpret and act on those instructions when situations arise that the document does not specifically address.

If you are wondering how these documents differ from each other, our article on living will vs advance directive explains the distinction clearly.

6. Beneficiary Designations

Certain accounts, like life insurance policies, retirement accounts (401k, IRA), and payable-on-death bank accounts, pass directly to named beneficiaries regardless of what your will or trust says. These designations override your other documents.

Reviewing and updating beneficiary designations is one of the most overlooked parts of estate planning. If you got divorced, remarried, had children, or simply never updated the forms, your assets may go to someone you did not intend.

Your Estate Planning Checklist

Use this checklist to work through the process step by step. You do not need to complete everything in one sitting. Most people work through it over a few days or a weekend.

Step 1: Take Inventory of What You Own and Owe

Write down everything. Include real estate (home, rental property, land), bank accounts (checking, savings, CDs), investment and brokerage accounts, retirement accounts (401k, IRA, pension), life insurance policies, vehicles, valuable personal property (jewelry, art, collections), business interests or ownership stakes, digital assets (online accounts, cryptocurrency, domains), and debts (mortgage, car loans, student loans, credit cards).

This inventory serves two purposes. It helps you decide how to distribute assets, and it gives your executor or trustee a roadmap so they are not searching for accounts after you are gone.

Step 2: Decide Who Gets What

Think about how you want your assets distributed. Common approaches include dividing everything equally among children, leaving specific items to specific people (the house to one child, the investment account to another), setting up trust provisions for minor children so assets are managed until they reach a certain age, naming charitable beneficiaries, and planning for pets.

Be specific. Vague instructions like "divide my belongings fairly" lead to confusion and disputes. Name the person, describe the asset, and state exactly what you want to happen.

Step 3: Choose the People Who Will Carry Out Your Plan

You need to name people for several key roles. Your executor or trustee is the person who manages your estate and follows your instructions. Your guardian is the person who will raise your minor children if both parents are gone. Your financial power of attorney is the person who handles money and legal matters if you cannot. Your healthcare agent is the person who makes medical decisions for you.

Choose people who are responsible, organized, and willing to serve. Talk to them before naming them. Make sure they understand what the role involves and that they are comfortable accepting it.

Step 4: Create Your Documents

You have three main options for creating estate planning documents.

Hiring an attorney is the traditional route. Estate planning attorneys typically charge between $1,000 and $3,000 for a basic trust-based plan, and more for complex situations. This option works well for high-net-worth estates, blended families, or situations involving business ownership.

Using an online platform is a faster and more affordable option for most families. Services like 299Trust let you create a complete set of state-specific documents, including a living trust, will, powers of attorney, and healthcare directives, starting at $299 for individuals and $399 for couples.

You answer guided questions and receive your documents by email in minutes.

For a detailed comparison of costs, our breakdown of how much a living trust costs covers pricing by method and by state.

DIY templates are the lowest-cost option but carry the most risk. Free or cheap templates found online are often generic, may not comply with your state's laws, and do not include guidance on how to properly sign or fund the documents.

Step 5: Fund Your Trust (If You Created One)

Creating a living trust is only the first step. The trust does not control any assets until you transfer them into it. This process is called funding a living trust.

Funding typically involves re-titling your home into the trust name by recording a new deed, updating your bank and investment accounts to list the trust as the owner, transferring vehicle titles where applicable, and assigning ownership of other titled property.

Assets that are never transferred into the trust will go through probate, just as if the trust did not exist. This is the most common mistake people make after creating a trust.

Step 6: Update Beneficiary Designations

Log into each of your retirement accounts, life insurance policies, and any payable-on-death or transfer-on-death accounts. Verify that the named beneficiaries still reflect your wishes. Update any that are out of date.

Remember, these designations override your will and trust. If your ex-spouse is still listed as the beneficiary on your 401k, they will receive it regardless of what your trust says.

Step 7: Store Your Documents and Tell the Right People

Keep your original signed documents in a secure location, such as a fireproof safe at home or a safe deposit box. Make copies for your executor or trustee, your financial power of attorney, your healthcare agent, and any other key people in your plan.

Let these people know where the originals are stored and how to access them. In an emergency, your family should not have to search for your documents.

Step 8: Review and Update Regularly

Life changes, and your estate plan should change with it. Review your documents every three to five years, or sooner if any of the following happens: marriage or divorce, birth or adoption of a child, death of a named person in your plan, purchase or sale of real estate, significant change in financial situation, move to a different state, or change in your healthcare preferences.

Updating your plan is easier than creating one from scratch. Most changes involve simple amendments or restatements rather than starting over.

Common Estate Planning Mistakes to Avoid

Not funding the trust. Creating a trust without transferring assets into it is the single most common mistake. An unfunded trust does not avoid probate.

Forgetting to update beneficiary designations. Old beneficiary forms on retirement accounts and life insurance can override your entire estate plan.

Choosing the wrong people. Naming someone as executor or trustee because they are the oldest child, not because they are the most responsible, creates problems.

Using generic templates. Estate planning laws vary by state. A form downloaded from a random website may not comply with your state's signing requirements or trust laws.

Never reviewing the plan. A plan created ten years ago may not reflect your current family, assets, or wishes.

Not talking to your family. Your plan works best when the key people in it know their roles and understand your wishes before they need to act.

When to Hire an Attorney vs. Do It Yourself

DIY estate planning works well for most straightforward situations: single individuals, married couples, and families with standard assets like a home, bank accounts, and retirement savings. If your situation is relatively simple and you want an affordable, guided process, an online estate planning platform can handle it.

Consider hiring an attorney if you own a business, have a blended family with children from multiple marriages, have a taxable estate (over $13.61 million in 2024 for federal estate tax), need specialized trusts (irrevocable, special needs, charitable), or are involved in complex real estate holdings across multiple states.

Even if you plan to hire an attorney, completing this checklist first will save you time and money. You will arrive at the meeting organized and prepared, which means fewer billable hours.

Start Your Estate Plan Today

Estate planning is not about wealth. It is about making sure the people you care about are protected and your wishes are followed. The checklist above gives you everything you need to get started, whether you do it yourself or work with a professional.

If you are ready to create your documents, 299Trust makes it simple. Answer a guided questionnaire, receive your state-specific documents by email, and complete your plan from home. Individual plans start at $299 and joint plans start at $399. Every plan includes a revocable living trust, will, financial and medical powers of attorney, healthcare directive, and final wishes document.

You can see exactly what is included and how the process works before you begin.