1. You can decide who should inherit your assets by having an estate plan. Without a will, the state statutes decide for you, and it is possible that without a will, you could disinherit someone you believed would receive your estate.
2. A comprehensive estate plan not only includes your will and/or trusts but also health and financial powers of attorney to designate agents who can make financial and health care decisions for you if you become incapacitated.
3. Who should serve as your fiduciaries? The executor of your estate and your trustee will manage and distribute assets to your surviving spouse and/or children. You will want to designate a guardian for any minor children in your will.
4. Are there specific bequests you would like to make? Who would you like to have Grandmother’s china, Dad’s watch or your wedding ring? You can outline such bequests as part of an estate plan.
5. Your individually owned assets will be subject to probate at your death. Probate is inefficient, a matter of public record and adds cost and delay to the administration of an estate. Your estate can avoid or minimize probate by establishing a revocable trust as part of your estate plan and funding it with your individual assets during your lifetime.
6. Assets directly inherited by minors must be held in a court-supervised guardianship. An application must be made to the court for distributions, and when your child turns age 18, he or she will receive the remaining assets outright. An estate plan can include a trust for your minor children, where you can spell out who can control and distribute assets for them until they reach an age determined to be appropriate by you.
7. Do you need to consider special circumstances? Comprehensive estate planning will include contingencies for a child with special needs, a blended family with children from prior marriages or liabilities to a former spouse.
8. You can protect your heirs from spendthrift behavior, spousal claims and creditors by establishing trusts for them under an estate plan.
9. Asset titling is important. You can consider the proper disposition of your life insurance and retirement accounts by revisiting the beneficiary designations of those accounts. And you can ensure your individual accounts are not frozen at your death by having them owned by a trust or making them joint or payable on death.
10. You can protect your business interests by confirming the succession plans for the business. Do the co-owners have an agreement that provides buyouts upon certain events, and do you understand those provisions? Will the buyout be unfunded or backed up with disability or life insurance?

Estate planning is not simply for the very wealthy; everyone should have an estate plan, and these are just some of the initial considerations you should discuss with your estate planning attorney. Of course, when you have a taxable estate, there are even more reasons to develop a thorough estate plan, not only to address the issues above, but also to mitigate your estate tax burden.