The Estate Planning Checklist

Estate planning* is extremely important to your family should you pass away or become unable to function as you do today. To make sure your family is better prepared, take a look at the following checklist. If there are items you can't check, your financial advisor can help make sure you address them immediately.

Your Estate Planning Team, consisting of your financial advisor, an attorney, a CPA or tax professional, a life consultant and a representative from the Edward Jones Trust Company, will be consulted to answer any questions you may have regarding the following:

• Account Registration
Are your accounts registered properly with the correct persons on the account? If you have a living trust, have your accounts been registered in the name of the trust?

• Beneficiary Designation
Are the beneficiaries named on your accounts still the correct beneficiaries? Are these beneficiary designations consistent with your overall estate plan?

• Health Care Directive/Living Will
Do you have specific wishes regarding the administration of life-prolonging procedures? This document can convey your wishes when you are no longer able to communicate them.

• Durable Power of Attorney (General and Healthcare)
Have you named someone to make financial and healthcare decisions on your behalf, should you become incapacitated? A Durable Power of Attorney is an important document that allows you to name this individual. It is even more imperative to those who do not have, nor wish to set up, a living trust.

• Will
Do you have a last will and testament? At a minimum, you need to have a will to insure that your assets transfer in the manner that you would prefer them to transfer.

• Trust
Are you concerned about estate taxes, avoiding probate, controlling the transfer of assets to heirs, leaving assets to children, protecting assets during incapacitation or eventually needing assistance with money management and paying bills? If so, consider setting up a trust.

*Edward Jones and its employees are not estate planners and cannot offer tax or legal advice.

Edward Jones Trust Company™ and Edward Jones are subsidiaries of the Jones Financial Companies, L.L.L.P.