Aging Parents Checklist

Estate planning objectives and preferences for receiving care as you age are two of the most important items to discuss with your loved ones. Sharing all of the relevant information is critical to ensure your wishes are carried out. 

As you get older, it is important to make sure that your personal and financial life is in order. It is also important to communicate your wishes with those who are important to you. The Estate Planning & Aging Discussion Checklist is meant to help identify key items that should be discussed with your loved ones. Making sure your wishes are clear to those who will be most impacted by them is best done in advance of a significant life event, like diminished mental capacity, a serious or terminal medical diagnosis, or death.
This checklist can help facilitate discussions you may have with your children and heirs or with your parents as their loved ones, potential care givers, and likely beneficiaries. Sometimes the conversation is best facilitated by an outside party guiding the discussion, sometimes it is best only within the family - that decision is up to you. Once a conversation has been had, Dan Corbett can work with you and your trusted tax and legal counsel to work through resolving any issues or problems that may have been uncovered.

While the agenda for this conversation will vary based on each family’s particular circumstances, there are certain items that should be covered in every family meeting. These items include:

• Leaving a Legacy
• Legal Issues
• Health Care
• Finances, including what will happen to all of your personal items when you are gone?

Legacy

• What values and beliefs do you want to be remembered for?
• What are the life lessons that you want to share with your family?
• Is there a family mission statement and/or family conference on future philanthropic intentions?
• Are there specific organizations or groups that you want to leave a significant gift to?
• What is the strategy for preventing possible family relationship breakdown over the intergenerational family financial mission plan?
  • Consider developing a communication plan and decision-making strategy to help avoid conflicts.
• What is the long-term gifting strategy structure and how does it attempt to protect children and grandchildren from being “ruined” by wealth?

Legal Issues

• Is there a will in place?
  • How often is it refined or updated?
  • Who is named as the Personal Representative?
• Are there existing trusts in place?
  • Who are the trustees of any existing trusts?
• Are there financial powers of attorney?
  • Who is the agent and what are their responsibilities?
  • Have copies been delivered to all financial institutions?
• How are your assets titled?
  • Should anything be updated to a trust, TOD, etc.?
• Who are the beneficiaries of any wills, trusts, retirement assets, life insurance contracts, annuities, POD/TOD accounts, etc.?
  • Consider summarizing these in a single document.
• Are any of the wealth transfer vehicles in place incomplete or poorly designed?
• What is the process for keeping all documents current, based on family circumstances and current tax and estate regulations?
• Where are all documents stored? This would include estate documents, account statements (bank, investments, retirement, credit cards, etc.), life insurance policies, annuity contracts, social security numbers, birth/marriage certificates, citizenship records, military records, deeds (including cemetery plots), vehicle titles, safety deposit box locations, etc.
  • Who knows where this is? How will you avoid your family searching for documents?
  • Who has, and should have, access?

 Health Care

• Do you have advanced medical directives (health care power of attorney, living will)?
  • Who is your health care proxy and what is their responsibility?
  • Are these on file with your medical providers?
• Have you put into place advanced care plans for known or suspected future health challenges?
  • Advanced Care Planning is usually covered by Medicare during annual wellness visits.
  • Have/should these been shared with friends and family to avoid surprises?
• When would you like to bring in assistance (children, friends, etc.) to ensure medical care is being provided (scheduling of appointments, tracking medicine, etc.)?
• If you or your spouse need long term care:
  • Where will you live?
  • What is your dream scenario?
    • If the goal is to stay in your home for as long as you can, are there plans for improving home accessibility (both exterior and interior)?
  • Who will provide care?
    • In-home aids (cooking, cleaning, bathing, etc.)?
    • Will there be a need for respite care?
  • How will you pay for these expenses?

Housing

• Has the house been evaluated for safety hazards?
  • Are there loose rugs, cords, or anything else that can be a trip hazard?
• Can/should the house be updated with modifications (grab bars, lighting, wheelchair accessibility, etc.)?
• Are commonly used items all within easy reach?
• Do you want to implement monitoring technology (emergency alert systems, cameras, fall detectors, etc.)?
• Are emergency contacts (healthcare, family members, etc.) easily visible?
• Are there strategies in place to help transition to an assisted living facility?
  • Who is involved in the conversation, what is the definition of triggers for the conversation and how do you introduce the need to decide on residential care arrangements?
  • When do you think you should consider alternatives (moving closer to family, independent or assisted living, etc.)?
  • Have you identified any locations and are you on waiting lists?

Transportation

• How do you feel about driving?
• Do you have a plan about when to stop driving?
  • Do you have trusted people who you are willing to listen to about when they think you should stop?
  • Is there a plan around transportation options when driving yourself is no longer an option?

Financial 

• Provide overview of net worth. The level of detail provided may vary, depending on family circumstances.
• Discuss family real estate.
  • What will become of the property when you pass away?
  • What would other members of the family want to have happen? Does someone want to buy it? Do they want to share costs?
• Provide overview of retirement plans and discuss beneficiary designations and distribution options during lifetime and at the death of the account owner.
• Are there life insurance policies in place?
  • What is the purpose of these policies?
  • Who is the owner?
  • Who are the beneficiaries?
• What is your long term care funding strategy?
  • Is there a long term care insurance policy? If so, what are the key provisions?
• When would you like more assistance with your finances?
  • Do you want to add children or trustee to your financial accounts to manage/access money as necessary?
• Have Monte Carlo simulations been used to determine the family’s capacity for gifting ?
• Has there been an account and asset review and consolidation? Are the relationships between all banking and brokerage firms?
• Have annuities and income strategies been reviewed and refined?
• Have there been recent comprehensive insurance reviews and updates that assess the changes in overallexposure and coverage?
• Are there portfolio reviews and updates as gift considerations, risk tolerance, and income concerns change?
• Are there liability and credit card reviews and refinements?
• Are there overall family review wealth-transfer plans, income and investment strategies, tilting of assets, trusteeship, and overview of the long-term eldercare plan?
• Are there regular estate liquidity reviews?