End of life planning checklist: getting your affairs in order, step by step

Two kinds of planning: legal documents and practical information

Legal documents give someone the authority to act. They are signed, witnessed, and sometimes notarized. Without them, a court or a state law decides who is in charge.

Practical information is what your family needs to do the job: which bank you use, where the deed is, who the vet is, how the mortgage gets paid. None of it needs a lawyer. All of it needs to be written down where your family can find it.

A common misunderstanding: a power of attorney is for life, not death. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's guide for agents says "the authority of an agent under a durable power of attorney ends when the principal dies" (CFPB, checked 2026-09-17). After death, the executor takes over. You need both roles filled.

Step 1: Put the legal documents in place

Will

The National Institute on Aging describes a will as the document that says how your property, money, and other assets "will be distributed and managed when you die," and adds that "if you do not have a will, your estate will be distributed according to the laws in your state" (National Institute on Aging, checked 2026-09-17). You sign in front of at least two adult witnesses who do not inherit. "A will doesn't have to be notarized to be valid. But in most states, you'll want to add a 'self-proving affidavit' to your will, which must be signed by your witnesses and notarized" (Nolo, checked 2026-09-17).

Durable financial power of attorney

A power of attorney is "a legal document that allows someone else to act on your behalf," and a durable one "continues to be effective even if you become incapacitated" (CFPB, checked 2026-09-17). Some banks have their own forms. Ask each one now whether it will accept yours.

Health care directive

The two most common advance directives are a living will and a durable power of attorney for health care, which names your health care proxy. If you have no directive, "the state laws where you live will determine who may make medical decisions on your behalf" (National Institute on Aging, checked 2026-09-17). No lawyer is needed. CaringInfo offers free state forms and notes that "the states vary in their requirements for witnesses, notarization and other specifics" (CaringInfo, checked 2026-09-17). Give copies to your proxy and your doctor.

HIPAA release

A valid authorization must be "written in plain language" and include what information may be shared, who may share it, who may receive it, the purpose, an expiration date or event, and your signature and date (45 CFR 164.508, via Cornell Legal Information Institute, checked 2026-09-17). It lets the people you name get hospital updates even before your proxy's authority kicks in.

Beneficiary designations

Retirement accounts, life insurance, annuities, and payable-on-death accounts go to whoever is on the form, not whoever is in the will: "Beneficiary designations supersede will and trust provisions" (Fidelity, checked 2026-09-17). Pull a current copy of every form and check the names.

Living trust (optional)

A living trust "names and instructs a person, called the trustee, to hold and distribute property and funds on your behalf when you are no longer able to manage your affairs" (National Institute on Aging, checked 2026-09-17). It only covers assets that have been retitled into it.

Step 2: Record the practical information your family will need

Use the National Institute on Aging's list as a floor. Record where each item lives, not just that it exists.

Identity and personal records

• Full legal name, Social Security number, date and place of birth, legal residence
• Location of birth, marriage, divorce, citizenship, adoption, and military records

Key people

• Spouse, children, executor, agents, health care proxy, successor trustee, with phone numbers
• Doctors, lawyer, accountant, financial advisor, insurance agents, clergy, close friends

Money, income, and insurance

• Every bank, brokerage, and retirement account: institution and how to reach it
• Pension, Social Security, annuities, rental income; most recent tax return and who prepared it
• Life, health, long-term care, home, and auto policies with insurer, policy number, and agent

Property, debts, and bills

• Deeds, mortgage servicer, property tax, vehicle titles, safe deposit box and who has a key
• Loans and credit cards: "what is owed, to whom, and when payments are due" (National Institute on Aging, checked 2026-09-17)
• Utilities, phone, streaming, memberships, and which account pays each one

Digital life

• The accounts that matter: email, phone carrier, cloud storage, photos, social media, online banking
• How your family gets in: your password manager's emergency access, plus legacy contacts on Apple, Google, and Facebook
• What to do with each account: keep, memorialize, download, or close

Pets and medical

• Vet, medications, food, and who has agreed to take each animal
• Prescriptions, allergies, conditions, health insurance, and where your living will, health care power of attorney, and any DNR or POLST order are

Wishes and letters

• Burial or cremation, service preferences, organ donation, any prepaid funeral contract
• A letter of instruction with "an inventory of assets and a list containing names, addresses, and phone numbers of your various advisors" (Fidelity, checked 2026-09-17)

Where each original document is

• Will, trust, powers of attorney, health care directive, HIPAA release, and the lawyer who drafted them

Omliva builds this half by asking guided questions and turning the answers into a printed and digital family guide. A notebook or spreadsheet works too. What matters is that it exists and someone knows where it is.

Step 3: Store it and share it

• One place. "Put your important papers and copies of legal documents in one place," and "for added security, you might consider getting a fireproof and waterproof safe" (National Institute on Aging, checked 2026-09-17).
• Careful with safe deposit boxes. "If your papers are in a bank safe deposit box, keep copies in a file at home" (National Institute on Aging, checked 2026-09-17).
• Tell one trusted person. "Someone you trust should know where to find your papers in case of an emergency" (National Institute on Aging, checked 2026-09-17). Vanguard says the same about the will: keep it somewhere safe "and let your executor know where it is" (Vanguard, checked 2026-09-17).
• Hand out copies. Health care directive to your proxy and doctor; financial power of attorney to your agent.
• Keep a digital copy. A scanned set in encrypted storage, shared with your executor, survives fire and flood and is easier to update. Keep the paper set too.

Step 4: Review it on a schedule

Both halves go stale. "Many estate plans no longer meet their creators' original intent due to a lack of routine updating" (Fidelity, checked 2026-09-17).

• Practical information: once a year. Tax week is a natural date; every statement is already in front of you.
• Legal documents: every 3 to 5 years. "It's a good practice to review your estate plan every 3 to 5 years" (Vanguard, checked 2026-09-17).
• Right away after: marriage, divorce, a birth or death, a move to another state ("one state's advance directive does not always work in another state," CaringInfo, checked 2026-09-17), a new home or business, retirement, a serious diagnosis, or a named person who can no longer serve.

Common mistakes

1. Passwords in a binder. Anyone who finds it has your whole life. Use a password manager's emergency access instead. With Bitwarden, "the grantor may manually approve the request at any time, otherwise the request is bound by a grantor-specified wait time" (Bitwarden, checked 2026-09-17).
2. Out-of-date beneficiaries. An ex-spouse on a 401(k) form usually wins over the will.
3. Nobody knows where the will is. A signed original nobody can find helps no one.
4. An untested power of attorney. Ask your bank now whether it will honor the document.
5. No HIPAA release. Adult children may be unable to get a status update from the hospital.
6. No instructions for the first two weeks. The executor needs death certificates ("up to 10 or more copies," AARP, checked 2026-09-17), must report the death to Social Security, and should tell one credit bureau, which "will tell the others" (AARP, checked 2026-09-17).
7. Forgetting the taxes. The final Form 1040 "is generally due on April 15 following the year of death" (IRS Publication 559, checked 2026-09-17), and an estate with gross income of $600 or more for the year must file Form 1041 (IRS Instructions for Form 1041, checked 2026-09-17).

When to get professional help

See an estate planning attorney if you own a business or property in more than one state, have assets near your state's estate tax threshold (several states tax estates far below the federal $15 million), have a blended family or a child with a disability who receives benefits, want to leave someone out, are naming a trust as a beneficiary, or expect a dispute. Your state or county bar association can refer you and point to free legal aid. Your doctor can walk through the medical choices in a health care directive.

The master checklist

Print this and check items off.

Legal documents

• Will signed with two adult witnesses, plus self-proving affidavit
• Durable financial power of attorney signed; agent has a copy; bank has confirmed it
• Living will and health care power of attorney on my state's form; copies with proxy and doctor
• HIPAA release naming who may talk to my doctors
• Beneficiary designations confirmed on every retirement account, life insurance policy, POD and TOD account
• Trust (if used) signed and assets retitled into it
• Guardian named for minor children; caretaker arranged for pets

Practical information

• Identity documents and their location
• Key people, roles, and phone numbers
• Every account and institution (no passwords)
• Insurance policies and agents
• Property, vehicles, safe deposit box
• Debts, bills, subscriptions, and how each is paid
• Digital accounts, emergency access plan, legacy contacts set
• Pets: vet, care, who takes them
• Medications, conditions, health insurance
• Funeral wishes, organ donation, prepaid arrangements
• Letter of instruction and personal letters
• Location of every original document

Storage, sharing, review

• Everything in one fire- and water-safe place, with a digital copy shared with the executor

• One trusted person knows where it all is

• Yearly review date set; legal documents reviewed within 3 to 5 years