Estate Planning for All Ages

People sometimes ask about how the process of determining the estate planning goals of elderly clients might differ from the process for younger clients. The truth is that the process is the same, although the goals may be quite different. The most important part of any first meeting with an estate planning client, regardless of age, is the "fact find."

Most estate planning lawyers begin an appointment with any new estate planning client by doing a fact find, either orally or by using a questionnaire. Many questions remain the same, regardless of the age of the client; for example:

• Family and occupational information, including children's names, ages and locations
• Financial and business information, such as ownership of a business, names of accountants and financial advisors, if any, amounts and providers of life or long term care insurance
• Complete asset profile (bank accounts, real estate, securities, personal property, retirement accounts, annuities, etc), and income information
• Current estate planning documents
• Whether gifts have been made
• Charitable intentions</blockquote>
• Thoughts about who clients would like to have act for them
• Clients' own expression of their goals