7 Steps to Prepare for Estate Planning

What Happened

A St. Louis estate planning law firm published a practical guide outlining seven preparation steps families can take before meeting with an estate planning attorney. The piece, published in September 2026, addresses a common barrier to getting started: the mistaken belief that every decision must be finalized before the first appointment.

The guide walks through a logical sequence of preparation tasks. It begins with building a basic asset inventory and gathering key documents, then moves into identifying beneficiaries, selecting an executor, and noting family circumstances that could affect the plan. The final two steps focus on reviewing existing beneficiary designations and preparing questions for the attorney. The article emphasizes that incomplete information is not a reason to delay the conversation.

The source article reflects a broader reality in estate planning: most families who delay do so not because their situations are too complex, but because they feel unprepared. The seven-step framework lowers that barrier by breaking preparation into discrete, manageable tasks. Each step produces something concrete, whether a list, a document, or a set of questions, that makes the eventual planning conversation more productive.

What It Means

The preparation framework described in the source article applies universally, but the stakes of being unprepared vary considerably depending on a family's circumstances. Families with minor children, blended households, or beneficiaries receiving government benefits face the highest risk from delayed or incomplete planning. Without a documented plan, state intestacy laws determine who inherits, and those defaults rarely match what most people actually want. The Who Inherits Calculator illustrates exactly how state law distributes assets when no plan exists, which is a useful starting point for anyone still on the fence about getting started.

The step focused on beneficiary designations deserves particular attention. Retirement accounts, life insurance policies, and payable-on-death accounts pass directly to named beneficiaries, bypassing whatever a will says entirely. This creates a common and costly mismatch: a carefully drafted will that contradicts outdated beneficiary designations on accounts worth far more than the probate estate. Reviewing these designations as part of the preparation process, rather than treating them as separate from the estate plan, closes that gap before it causes problems. The federal annual gift exclusion currently stands at $19,00026 USC § 2503(b); Rev. Proc. 2025-32 § 4.42Verified Sep 15, 2026View source per recipient, and understanding how that interacts with beneficiary designations and account titling is exactly the kind of question worth bringing to a planning conversation.

The source article also highlights special circumstances that affect planning complexity: blended families, beneficiaries with disabilities, minor children, and dependents receiving needs-based government benefits. Each of these situations can require tools beyond a basic will. A beneficiary receiving Supplemental Security Income or Medicaid, for example, may lose eligibility if they receive an outright inheritance above program thresholds. A special needs trust holds assets for that beneficiary's benefit without disqualifying them from government programs. Similarly, minor children cannot legally manage significant assets, which makes age-triggered distribution schedules through a trust a more appropriate vehicle than a direct inheritance. The source article correctly notes that these circumstances do not necessarily make an estate plan complicated, but they do affect which tools belong in it. For families navigating these questions, understanding how special needs trusts work provides important context before any attorney meeting.

The executor selection step also carries practical weight that the source article addresses directly. An executor, sometimes called a personal representative, handles debt payment, asset location, beneficiary communication, and court filings during the probate process. Probate timelines and costs vary significantly by state and estate size. The Probate Cost Calculator generates state-specific estimates that help families understand what the executor role actually involves before they ask someone to take it on. Naming a backup executor, as the source article recommends, provides continuity if the primary choice becomes unavailable. Some families also consider whether the complexity of their estate warrants a professional or institutional executor rather than a family member.

Context from SimplyTrust

The preparation steps outlined in the source article apply whether someone plans to work with an attorney or use a platform like SimplyTrust. Gathering an asset inventory, identifying beneficiaries, and reviewing existing designations are foundational tasks regardless of the path taken. SimplyTrust guides users through each of these decisions within the trust creation process itself, with built-in prompts for beneficiary designations, trustee selection, and distribution schedules. The platform handles the most common planning scenarios, including minor children, multiple beneficiaries, and staggered distributions, without requiring users to arrive with every answer already worked out. For families who want to organize their thinking before diving in, the Estate Inventory Checklist provides a structured starting point that mirrors the asset-gathering step the source article describes.

One distinction worth understanding: a will alone does not avoid probate. It provides instructions to the court, but the court process still applies. A funded revocable living trust transfers assets directly to beneficiaries without court involvement, preserving privacy and reducing both cost and delay for the family left behind. For anyone working through the seven preparation steps and wondering which direction to go, how trusts help families avoid probate explains the practical difference between the two approaches. The preparation work described in the source article is equally valuable for either path, and doing it thoroughly makes every subsequent step faster and more effective.

Source: 7 Steps Before Meeting With an Estate Planning Attorney | The Laiderman Law Firm, P.C.