Toolkit · Wills and Estates

The Estate Planning and Trust Funding Toolkit

26 U.S.C. § 1014

Type
Toolkit
Jurisdiction
National
Date
2025-06-25
Topic
Wills and Estates

This toolkit supplies the working documents for building and maintaining an estate plan. It opens with an asset inventory worksheet organized by transfer mechanism and a beneficiary designation audit worksheet, because those two documents determine every drafting decision that follows. It then supplies a trust funding tracker with institution-by-institution instructions, deed and assignment language, and a certification of trust outline. A clause library covers residuary, survivorship, per stirpes, guardian nomination, testamentary trust, tangible property memorandum, and no-contest provisions. Incapacity sections supply a powers checklist for the durable power of attorney, health care proxy and HIPAA language, and a letter of guidance to a nominated guardian. Closing sections supply a special needs trust framework, a spousal consent reminder, a location letter template, a qualified disclaimer letter, a portability calendar, fiduciary interview questions, an annual review letter, and a family meeting agenda.

The Estate Planning and Trust Funding Toolkit

Wills and Estates > Trusts and Estate Planning | Published 25 June 2025 - Updated 28 August 2026 | UpLaw - uplaw.us

⚠ Drafting aids, not forms. Execution formalities, statutory power-of-attorney forms, advance directive requirements, and elective share rules are all state law. Adapt everything here to the governing state, and use the state's own statutory forms where they exist.

Companion documents: Building and Maintaining an Estate Plan: A Practical Checklist · Trusts and Estate Planning: A Comprehensive Guide to Wills, Revocable Trusts, Beneficiaries, and Funding · The Documents That Do the Work: What an Estate Plan Actually Accomplishes

Tool 1 — Asset inventory, sorted by transfer mechanism

⭐ Fill this in before any drafting decision. It tells you what the will will actually control.

Contract assets — the beneficiary form governs

Institution Account type Approx. value Primary beneficiary Contingent Last confirmed
401(k) / 403(b) / 457
Traditional IRA
Roth IRA
Former employer plan
Pension (survivor option?)
Life insurance — individual
Life insurance — employer
Annuity
HSA
529 plan
POD bank account
TOD brokerage account

Title assets — survivorship governs

Asset Exact title as written Co-owner Value Debt
JTWROS / TBE / community property with survivorship / tenants in common

⚠ Copy the title exactly as it reads on the deed or statement. "Joint" on a statement does not always mean survivorship.

Trust assets — the trust governs

Asset Retitled? Date confirmed Confirmation in file?
☐ ☐

Probate assets — the will governs

Asset Value Basis Location of paperwork

⭐ Record original cost basis wherever you can find it. It is the input to every decision about lifetime gifting under 26 U.S.C. § 1014.

Tool 2 — Beneficiary designation audit worksheet

Instructions: request a current statement from each custodian. ⚠ Do not rely on your file copy — ask what they have on record today.

Account Primary named Correct? Contingent named Correct? Per stirpes? Minor named? Benefits recipient named? Change submitted Written confirmation received
☐ ☐ ☐ ⚠ ☐ ⚠ ☐ ☐ ☐

The five questions for every line:

  1. Is the primary the person I want today?
  2. Is a contingent named, and is that person right?
  3. If a named beneficiary predeceases me, do their children take? ⚠ Most forms default to per capita among survivors, which disinherits a deceased child's children.
  4. ⚠ Is a minor named directly? Fix it — name a trust.
  5. ⚠ Is anyone on SSI or Medicaid named directly? Fix it — name a third-party special needs trust.

Reminders:

⚠ Divorce does not fix an ERISA plan. Egelhoff v. Egelhoff, 532 U.S. 141; Kennedy v. Plan Administrator, 555 U.S. 285; Boggs v. Boggs, 520 U.S. 833; Ridgway v. Ridgway, 454 U.S. 46. ⭐ Change the form.

⚠ A married participant's qualified plan generally must pay the spouse absent a written, witnessed consent — 29 U.S.C. § 1055.

Tool 3 — Trust funding tracker

⭐ The trust document is roughly thirty percent of the work. This table is the rest.

Asset Action required Who does it Requested Confirmed Confirmation filed
Primary residence Deed to trust; check title insurer, due-on-sale, homestead Attorney ☐
Other real property (each state) Deed to trust; local recording requirements Local counsel ☐
Checking account Retitle or POD to trust Client + bank ☐
Savings account Retitle or POD to trust Client + bank ☐
Brokerage account Retitle Client + advisor ☐
Certificates of deposit Retitle at maturity Client ☐
Closely held business interest Assignment; ⚠ check transfer restrictions first Attorney ☐
Partnership / LLC interest Assignment + amended schedule Attorney ☐
Life insurance Name trust as beneficiary Client + carrier ☐
Tangible personal property General assignment Attorney ☐
Vehicles / boats State-dependent; often skip Client ☐
Safe deposit box Retitle or add trustee Client + bank ☐
Notes receivable Assignment Attorney ☐
Mineral or royalty interests Assignment + recording Local counsel ☐
Retirement accounts ⚠ DO NOT RETITLE. Beneficiary designation only — retitling is a taxable distribution Client ☐

Assignment of tangible personal property

For value received and in further consideration of the trust relationship, I, ______, hereby transfer and assign to ______, Trustee of the ______ Revocable Trust dated ______, all of my right, title, and interest in all tangible personal property owned by me, including household furnishings, clothing, jewelry, art, collections, tools, equipment, and personal effects, wherever located, excluding only property specifically disposed of by a written memorandum or by other instrument.

Deed recital (adapt to state form)

Grantor, ______, an individual, conveys to ______, Trustee of the ______ Revocable Trust dated ______, and to any successor trustee, the following described real property: [legal description]. This conveyance is made for estate planning purposes, is a transfer to a revocable trust of which Grantor is a settlor and beneficiary, and is exempt from transfer tax under [statute]. Grantor retains the right to revoke and reserves all homestead rights to the extent permitted by law.

⚠ Confirm before recording: the title insurer's endorsement requirements · whether the state's homestead exemption survives transfer · whether the county charges transfer tax · whether the lender's due-on-sale clause is triggered — most transfers of a residence to the borrower's own revocable trust are protected by federal law.

Tool 4 — Certification of trust

Institutions ask for this instead of the full trust, and every state has a statute authorizing it. ⭐ Prepare it at signing and give the client six copies.

Certification of Trust

  1. The ______ Revocable Trust was created on ______ and is currently in existence.
  2. The settlor(s) are ______.
  3. The currently acting trustee(s) are ______.
  4. The trust is revocable by ______.
  5. The power to revoke is held by ______.
  6. The trustee has the following powers relevant to this transaction: to acquire, hold, sell, encumber, and convey real and personal property; to open, maintain, and close accounts; to borrow; to invest; and to execute all instruments necessary.
  7. The trust ☐ does ☐ does not require the signature of more than one trustee.
  8. The trust's taxpayer identification number is the settlor's Social Security number, the trust being a grantor trust.
  9. Title to trust assets should be taken as: "______, Trustee of the ______ Revocable Trust dated ______."
  10. The trust has not been revoked, modified, or amended in any manner that would cause this certification to be incorrect.

Signed under penalty of perjury by the trustee(s).

Tool 5 — Will clause library

Residuary — ⚠ the clause whose absence causes partial intestacy.

I give all the rest, residue, and remainder of my estate, of whatever kind and wherever located, including all lapsed and void gifts, to ______; if ______ does not survive me, to ______; and if neither survives me, to my descendants then living, per stirpes; and if none, to ______.

Survivorship

Any person who does not survive me by ninety days shall be deemed to have predeceased me for all purposes of this will.

Per stirpes

Where property is directed to descendants "per stirpes," it shall be divided into equal shares at the generational level nearest to me at which one or more descendants are then living, with one share for each then-living descendant at that level and one share for each deceased descendant at that level who left descendants then living.

Guardian nomination

If at my death any child of mine is a minor, I nominate ______ as guardian of the person of that child. If ______ is unable or unwilling to serve, I nominate ______. I direct that no bond be required. I have discussed this nomination with the person named, who has agreed to serve.

Testamentary trust for minors

The share of any beneficiary who has not attained age twenty-five shall be held in trust. The trustee may distribute income and principal as the trustee determines appropriate for the beneficiary's health, education, maintenance, and support, considering other resources reasonably available to the beneficiary. The trustee shall distribute one-third of the principal at age twenty-five, one-half of the remaining principal at age thirty, and the balance at age thirty-five. ⭐ The trustee may withhold a distribution while a beneficiary is subject to a creditor claim, a pending dissolution proceeding, or a substance dependency, and may instead apply the funds for the beneficiary's benefit.

Tangible personal property memorandum

I may leave a written statement or list disposing of items of tangible personal property. Any such statement or list signed and dated by me, whether prepared before or after the execution of this will, shall be given effect to the extent permitted by law. If more than one exists, the one bearing the latest date shall control.

No-contest

If any beneficiary, directly or indirectly, contests this will or any trust I have created, or seeks to impair or invalidate any provision, that beneficiary and that beneficiary's descendants shall take nothing, and the property otherwise passing to them shall pass as if each had predeceased me leaving no descendants. ⚠ Enforceability varies; many states excuse a contest brought with probable cause.

Tax and debt apportionment

All estate, inheritance, and similar taxes occasioned by my death shall be paid from the residue, without apportionment against any beneficiary or any non-probate transfer, except that taxes attributable to [specific asset] shall be borne by its recipient.

Digital assets

I grant my personal representative full authority to access, control, manage, distribute, copy, and delete my digital assets and electronic communications, and this constitutes my lawful consent under applicable federal and state law, including the state's adoption of the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act.

Tool 6 — Durable power of attorney: powers checklist

⚠ Many states require express, specific authority for these. A general grant is not enough, and the omission surfaces in a crisis.

Power Grant? Why it matters
Banking, checks, transfers ☐ Basic
Real property — buy, sell, mortgage, lease ☐ Sale to fund care
Securities and investment management ☐ Basic
Tax matters, including signing returns and IRS representation ☐ Form 2848 may also be needed
Government benefits — Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, VA ☐ ⚠ Social Security requires its own representative payee process
Insurance — claims, changes, premiums ☐ Basic
Business operation ☐ For owners
Litigation and claims ☐ Basic
Making gifts ⚠ ☐ Crisis planning; annual exclusion gifting
Creating, amending, revoking a trust ⚠ ☐ Funding a trust after incapacity
Changing beneficiary designations ⚠ ☐ Fixing the ex-spouse problem after capacity is gone
Changing rights of survivorship ⚠ ☐ Retitling
Disclaiming property ⚠ ☐ ⭐ Preserves 26 U.S.C. § 2518 planning
Delegating authority ⚠ ☐ Successor practicality
Digital assets and electronic communications ☐ RUFADAA consent
Safe deposit box access ☐ Frequently forgotten
Retaining professionals and paying them ☐ Basic

Design decisions ☐ Immediate or springing — ⭐ immediate, in most cases ☐ Successor agents — at least two ☐ Co-agents jointly or independently — ⚠ jointly is safer and slower ☐ Accounting to a named third party — ⭐ recommended where the amounts are large ☐ Compensation and reimbursement of the agent ☐ ⭐ Also execute each financial institution's own form

Tool 7 — Health care documents

Health care proxy core language

I appoint ______ as my health care agent, with authority to make any and all health care decisions for me when I am unable to make them for myself, including decisions to consent to, refuse, or withdraw any treatment. If ______ is unable or unwilling to serve, I appoint ______, and then ______. My agent shall have the same right as I would have to receive and review my medical records and to speak with my providers.

Treatment preferences — the part worth writing in your own words

If I am in a terminal condition, permanently unconscious, or in a state of advanced irreversible dementia, and my physicians conclude I am unlikely to recover the ability to [recognize the people I love / communicate meaningfully / live without total dependence on machines], I direct that: ______.

Regardless of my condition, I want adequate treatment for pain and discomfort, even if it may hasten my death.

My views on artificial nutrition and hydration are: ______.

⭐ My agent knows what I would want. Where this document and my agent's judgment about my values conflict, follow my agent.

HIPAA authorization

I authorize all health care providers, health plans, clearinghouses, and their business associates to disclose my protected health information, including records relating to mental health and substance use to the extent permitted by law, to the following individuals: ______, ______, ______. This authorization is made under 45 C.F.R. Part 164 and applies whether or not I am incapacitated. It remains in effect until revoked in writing.

⭐ Name several people. The proxy's authority may not be activated at the moment the family first needs information.

Distribution list at signing: the agent · every successor agent · the primary physician · the specialist managing any serious condition · the hospital system's records department · the client's own file.

Tool 8 — Letter of guidance to a nominated guardian

Not legally binding. ⭐ Read more carefully than anything that is.

Dear ______,

If you are reading this, the worst has happened, and we asked you to raise our children. Thank you.

Money. The trust is at [institution]; the trustee is ______, reachable at ______. Ask for whatever the children need; that is what it is for. You are not expected to spend your own money on them.

School. They attend ______. If moving is easier for your family, move them; continuity of care matters more than continuity of school.

Health. [Child] has ______. The physician is ______. Records are at ______.

Relationships we want maintained. [Grandparents, aunts, family friends, and how often.]

Faith and values. [What we hope for, stated as hopes rather than instructions.]

Things we would want you to know about each child. [One paragraph each — what they are afraid of, what calms them, what they are proud of.]

What we do not expect. We do not expect you to raise them the way we would have. We chose you because we trust your judgment more than we trust our own predictions.

Tool 9 — Special needs planning framework

☐ Third-party trust — funded by parents or grandparents. ⭐ No state payback. The default answer. ☐ First-party trust under 42 U.S.C. § 1396p — for assets the beneficiary already owns. ⚠ Payback required. ☐ Pooled trust — nonprofit trustee, smaller amounts. ☐ ABLE account — for modest savings under the resource rules at 42 U.S.C. § 1382b; check the annual contribution limit and the state's program. ☐ Confirm eligibility framework under 42 U.S.C. § 1396a.

Distribution standard language

The trustee may distribute income and principal solely for the beneficiary's supplemental needs — those not provided by any federal, state, or local benefit program for which the beneficiary is or may become eligible. The trustee shall not make any distribution that would reduce or eliminate the beneficiary's eligibility for such benefits. The beneficiary has no right to compel any distribution. The trustee is specifically authorized to consider, and shall not be liable for considering, the effect of any distribution on eligibility.

Letter to relatives — send it, every time

As you know, [name] receives Supplemental Security Income and Medicaid. ⚠ If [name] receives money directly — by will, by gift, or by being named on a life insurance policy or retirement account — those benefits stop until the money is spent. If you would like to provide for [name], please leave it instead to the [Name] Special Needs Trust, dated ______, [trustee name and address]. We are glad to give this information to your attorney.

⭐ The generous grandparent who names the disabled grandchild on a beneficiary form is the single most common way a special needs plan is destroyed. Write the letter before it happens.

Tool 10 — Location letter

⭐ The single most useful page in the binder, and the one most often missing.

Where everything is — [Name], updated ______

Original will and trust: ______ Copies held by: ______ Attorney: name, firm, phone, email CPA: name, firm, phone Financial advisor: name, firm, phone Insurance agent: name, phone

Safe deposit box: bank, branch, box number, where the key is, who is authorized Home safe: location, where the combination is written down

Accounts: [institution — type — last four digits, for each] Life insurance: [carrier — policy number — face amount] Retirement accounts: [institution — plan] Pension: [administrator — phone] Mortgages and loans: [lender — account] Real property: [address — where the deed is] Vehicles: [where the titles are]

Digital: password manager and how to get emergency access · email accounts · platform legacy contacts configured

Health care documents: who has copies · which physician has them

Funeral and remains: what I want · any prepaid arrangement and with whom · where the instructions are

☐ Update annually. ☐ Give a copy to the executor and to at least one other person.

Tool 11 — Qualified disclaimer letter

⚠ Nine months. In writing. No acceptance of any benefit. No direction as to who takes instead. 26 U.S.C. § 2518.

To: [Personal representative / trustee / plan administrator]

Re: Estate of ______, date of death ______

I, ______, irrevocably and unqualifiedly disclaim any and all interest in the following property passing to me from the above decedent: [describe precisely — the whole interest, a fractional share, or a specific asset].

This disclaimer is made under 26 U.S.C. § 2518 and [state statute]. I confirm that:

  1. This disclaimer is in writing and is irrevocable.
  2. It is delivered within nine months of the date of the transfer.
  3. I have not accepted the interest or any of its benefits.
  4. I have given no direction as to who shall receive the disclaimed interest, which passes without any direction on my part under the governing instrument or state law.

⭐ After any death, tell the family to touch nothing — not a dividend, not a distribution, not a transfer — until disclaimer options are analyzed. ⚠ Accepting one dividend destroys the disclaimer.

Tool 12 — Post-death and portability calendar

Deadline Item Notes
Immediately Locate the will and secure assets Do not distribute anything
Immediately ⚠ Instruct the family to accept nothing pending disclaimer analysis
30 days Notify custodians of the death Request date-of-death values
Varies Petition for probate or begin trust administration See Opening and Administering a Probate Estate: A Practical Checklist
6 months Alternate valuation date election Only if it reduces both estate and tax
9 months ⚠ Qualified disclaimers Absolute
9 months Federal estate tax return due where required Extension available
9 months + extension ⭐ PORTABILITY ELECTION — file even with no tax due ⚠ The most commonly missed item in this entire toolkit
Varies (6–9 months typical) Elective share election State law
Varies Creditor claim period Publication triggers it
Following April Final individual income tax return
Annually Fiduciary income tax returns ⚠ Compressed brackets — Knight v. Commissioner, 552 U.S. 181

⚠ Do not assume a state court order fixes a federal tax problem — Commissioner v. Estate of Bosch, 387 U.S. 456.

Tool 13 — Fiduciary interview questions

Ask the nominee, before naming them:

  1. Are you willing to serve? ⭐ Ask this out loud, not by implication.
  2. Do you understand this may take [months / decades]?
  3. Are you comfortable telling a family member no?
  4. Do you keep records?
  5. Is there anyone in the family you could not deal with fairly?
  6. Do you have any financial or legal difficulties that would complicate this?
  7. Would you be willing to serve with a co-fiduciary or a professional?
  8. For a health care agent: could you tell a physician to stop treatment if that is what I asked for?
  9. For a guardian: have you discussed this with your spouse or partner?
  10. Would you rather I named someone else? ⭐ Make it genuinely easy to decline.

Tool 14 — Annual review letter

Dear ______,

It has been [X] years since we completed your estate plan. Nothing may have changed — but a few things routinely do, and they are the things that quietly break plans.

Please tell us if any of these happened: a marriage or divorce, in your family or a beneficiary's · a death · a birth or adoption · a beneficiary developing a disability, addiction, or creditor problem · a move to another state · buying property, especially out of state · a significant change in your finances · starting or selling a business · anyone you named becoming unwilling, unable, or estranged.

And regardless of the above, please do one thing: ⭐ request a current beneficiary statement from every retirement account, insurance policy, and annuity you own, and read it. Not your copy — theirs. This is the single most valuable thing you can do for your family, and it takes an afternoon.

Finally: does the person who will need your documents know where they are?

Tool 15 — Family meeting agenda

⭐ Optional, and it prevents a great deal of litigation. Hold it while everyone is well.

  1. What exists — that there is a plan, and where it lives
  2. Who is named to do what, and why — ⭐ explaining a choice in person defuses the resentment that fuels contests
  3. What the health care documents say, and what you actually want
  4. How unequal treatment, if any, was decided — say it yourself rather than leaving it to be inferred
  5. The tangible personal property memorandum — ⭐ let people say what they hope for now, while you can adjust it
  6. Who to call — attorney, CPA, advisor
  7. Questions

⚠ Do not turn it into a negotiation. The plan is yours. The meeting exists so that nobody is surprised, not so that anybody votes.

Tool 16 — Authority quick reference

Authority Use
26 U.S.C. § 2001 Estate tax imposed
26 U.S.C. § 2010 Unified credit; exemption
26 U.S.C. § 2031 Gross estate
26 U.S.C. § 2036 Retained interests pulled back
26 U.S.C. § 2056 Marital deduction
26 U.S.C. § 2503 Annual gift exclusion
26 U.S.C. § 2505 Gift tax unified credit
26 U.S.C. § 2518 Qualified disclaimers
26 U.S.C. § 2601 Generation-skipping tax
26 U.S.C. § 1014 Basis step-up
26 U.S.C. § 401 Qualified plans
29 U.S.C. § 1055 Spousal consent
42 U.S.C. § 1396p Special needs trusts; transfer penalties
42 U.S.C. § 1382b SSI resources
42 U.S.C. § 1396a Medicaid eligibility framework
45 C.F.R. Part 164 HIPAA privacy rule

Tool 17 — Where estate planning touches other matters

If this is also true Read
Long-term care is on the horizon Medicaid and Long-Term Care: A Comprehensive Guide to Eligibility, Transfers, Estate Recovery, and Appeals — ⚠ the five-year look-back means planning done in a crisis is far weaker than planning done early
Someone is already exploiting an older client Detecting, Reporting, and Unwinding Elder Financial Exploitation: A Practical Checklist · The Elder Financial Exploitation Response Toolkit
A death has already occurred Opening and Administering a Probate Estate: A Practical Checklist · The Probate and Estate Administration Toolkit
Online accounts matter The Digital Estate and Online Account Toolkit
A divorce is pending or recent Divorce and Dissolution: A Comprehensive Guide to Grounds, Property, Support, and Parenting — ⭐ update every beneficiary form the week the decree enters
An adoption is being finalized Completing an Adoption and Handling Consent and Notice: A Practical Checklist — an adopted child inherits fully; confirm the instruments say what the family intends
A support obligation exists Establishing, Modifying, and Enforcing Child Support: A Practical Checklist — ⭐ life insurance securing support belongs in both files
A beneficiary receives disability benefits Filing and Appealing a Social Security Disability Claim: A Practical Checklist · The Social Security Disability Toolkit
A beneficiary is a veteran The Veterans Benefits Claim and Appeal Toolkit
Creditors are circling The Consumer Bankruptcy Toolkit — ⚠ exemption planning and estate planning interact, and timing matters

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