Estate document readiness check

What the calculator shows

The calculator works through ten core documents and records that make up a basic estate file. Each one is a simple tick box, marked in place or left open, with a not applicable option for items that do not fit your situation. The result is a count of ticked items against a total.

The list covers several kinds of items. Some are signed documents, such as a will naming an executor, a revocable trust, a financial power of attorney and a health care directive. Others are records and designations, such as beneficiary names on retirement and insurance accounts, named successors, and a list of digital accounts. A final group covers where originals are kept and who holds contact details.

A business owner sees one extra line, a written buy-sell or succession agreement. Owners with no business can mark that line not applicable, and it then drops out of the count. Education is the purpose here, so the output describes your entries and does not judge any document's wording or legal effect.

How the arithmetic works

Step one is to count the items marked in place, and that count is items ticked. Step two is to count every item not marked not applicable, and that count is the total. Step three reports ticked items against that total.

An owner with no business might mark the buy-sell line not applicable, which makes the total nine. If seven of those nine lines are in place, the result reads seven of nine. Had the same line been left open and not excluded, the total would stay at ten and the result would read seven of ten.

Because the arithmetic is a plain count, every line carries equal weight. A signed trust and a list of digital accounts each add one to the tally, even though their effects on a family are very different. The calculator does not rank the lines, and it assigns no dollar value to any line.

Assumptions and limits

Each item is marked in place, not in place or not applicable, and the count is a tally only.

The checklist does not grade completeness or say that a document is valid.

How to read the result

A result near the full total means most listed items are marked in place. A result near zero means most are still open. Neither reading says whether the documents are well drafted, current or consistent across the set.

The gaps tell more than the headline count. An open line for a revocable trust points to a different issue than an open line for a health care directive. The first concerns how property is held, while the second concerns decisions about medical care.

A tick does not confirm that a document was signed correctly, that a beneficiary form matches the wider plan, or that the named people have agreed to the role. The number works as a snapshot of the owner's own inventory. Its value lies in showing which categories have been touched and which remain open.

Where owners get surprised

Assets that were meant to sit in a trust often never get retitled into the trust. A trust can be signed and still hold nothing, because the deeds, account registrations and ownership records stay in the owner's personal name.

Owners are sometimes surprised to find an old form naming a former spouse or a person who is deceased. Because these forms sit with the account provider, they are easy to forget during a general review of papers.

Business owners meet a further surprise when a partner dies or becomes disabled and no written buy-sell or succession agreement is in place.

Common questions