The (Dreaded) Estate Planning Questionnaire And Why It Is So Important

Short answer: It’s about the money. Little longer answer: The estate planning questionnaire tells your estate planning attorney what type of plan may be best for you and can save many hours in attorney time upon your death.

Of all things to write about, this topic is a bit mundane. However, this issue has come up several times, recently, in our probate estates. Most estate planning attorneys will ask you to fill out a very long and involved estate planning questionnaire. The topics range from family relationships and finances to who you want to be in charge of your finances and medical decisions.

In our office, we are not too particular about the format of the financial information and attaching a summary from your financial planner will usually suffice. As the form is long, we ask clients to focus on the family relationships, current addresses and types of assets (more than the exact value of that asset). Even then, the form is seldom filled out, completely.

If the estate planning attorney does not know that an asset exists, it is hard to advise the client about beneficiary designations and the use of trusts. However, if given a choice between complete financial information and complete family information, I would choose the complete family information. Most people have a pretty good idea of their net worth and primary assets. We can usually glean this information during the initial consultation. What we cannot glean is the family dynamics, how to locate family members and things as routine as the location of a safe deposit key.

The safe deposit key is a good example of how a small piece of information can cost several hundred dollars at death. Our estate planning form asks (1) if you have a safe deposit key and (2) where we might find that key should you be deceased. We advise most clients to keep their original wills in a safe place like a safe deposit box because probating a copy can be costly and sometimes disastrous. This question about safe deposit boxes and keys is often left blank. Twice so far this year, we have spent significant time just looking for the will, indications of a safe deposit box and then the key. While drilling the lock is only $150.00, we may spend $300.00 or more searching for a key before drilling the lock.

The examples are many. We also ask for a listing of previous states of residence and for how long. We ask because there are costs and benefits from living in a community property state. In certain situations, this can impact the heirs and the income tax liability of a surviving spouse. We ask for information about monies (Notes) owed to the client. These Notes tend to disappear at death.

Other examples include life insurance policies and beneficiary designations, names of parents living and deceased, names of other individuals involved in the estate plan, real property and its location and so on. All of this is designed to save time and money at some later date.

In the era of digital assets like Facebook accounts, email accounts, locked computers, locked phones and electronic finances, user names and passwords can be just as important. Clients tend to be leery of letting anybody know their passwords for reasons that are obvious. Yet, if there is no way to access this information after your death, the assets can be lost or substantial expense in gaining access and control.

Yes, the estate planning form is not exactly exciting, but consider the purpose. It is all about proper planning for the client and efficient use of time at death. When filling out the estate planning questionnaire, remember that the more information you provide the easier it will be for your family and friends, later.