Estate Planning Appointment

pre-appointment checklist

Preparing for Your Estate Planning Appointment

Thank you for scheduling an estate planning appointment with our firm! We look forward to meeting you!

Your meeting is mostly an opportunity for your attorney (Annie Arbenz or Hannah Calas) to get to know you, learn about the important people in your life, and determine what comprises your “estate.” Our clients have said that it feels like they have just sat down with an old friend – in other words, it is intended to be a fun meeting not your stereotypical lawyer meeting. Your attorney will “diagnose” what needs to be done to plan your estate and how to design a personalized estate plan just for you.

To best prepare for your meeting, please have the following things handy:

1. Copies of current estate planning documents (e.g., Will, Power of Attorney, Community Property Agreement, etc.)

2. A list of your assets and liabilities. This doesn’t have to be super detailed, but we will ask various questions, including about the following:

1. Real Estate – address and county parcel number, if you have it.

2. Financial Accounts

1. Bank Accounts

2. Investment Accounts

3. Retirement Accounts

3. Life Insurance

4. Annuities

5. Business Interests

6. Potential Future Inheritances

3. An idea of who should be involved in your estate plan, including who would be executor and who might receive your estate. Don’t worry, we’ll talk through all of these things so you don’t have the know the answers now!

4. A good attitude! We promise this will be more fun that you think it will be.

If your meeting is virtual, you can scan and email your estate planning documents and/or asset information to us in advance, but it’s not imperative that you do so – only if convenient. 

If you have any questions before your meeting, please feel free to contact our office. If you need to reschedule your appointment, you can do so by clicking “Reschedule” on the email confirmation sent to you or you can call our office.

Click here for directions to our office. There is parking right outside our office doors, which you will find off McCarver Street in Old Town Tacoma.