9 Steps Joe The Plumber regarding his estate planning:

1) Take a complete inventory of all your assets and their values
2) Confirm the form of ownership of these assets since it will impact your estate plan
3) Verify the beneficiary designation forms on your life insurance policies and retirement plans
4) Consider your minor children and name guardians and successor guardians
5) Set up trusts for your minor children and name trustees and successor trustees to manage these trust assets
6) Provide your spouse with a durable power of attorney to take care of financial decisions when you are unable to
7) Repeat the above providing your spouse with a healthcare power of attorney to take care of healthcare decisions in case of your incapacitation
8) Select an experienced attorney to draft your estate plan and legal documents
9) Review your estate plan on a regular basis since changes do happen to you, your family and the law

Let me tell you about Mr. & Mrs. Joe Small. The Smalls are a couple in their mid thirties, so estate planning wasn't a concern (they are invincible after all). Joe is a hard working small business owner trying to provide for his family, while Jane is a stay at home mom taking care of their 3 minor boys. The Smalls, had none of the basic estate planning documents in place, no wills, or trusts, no financial or healthcare power of attorney, and no guardians named to care for their children.

One day, Jane got a call from Joe's office; Joe had a heart attack and was moved to the nearest hospital. Jane was numb; she depended on her husband completely as he managed their finances. What if anything happened to Joe? What would she do with the business? How about the mortgage and their other debt? Do they have enough life insurance to provide for her and her children?

Jane wakes up from her horrible nightmare, waking Joe up and insisting that they schedule a meeting with their estate-planning attorney to start working on their estate plan.

In addition to the 9 steps above, Joe should draft a letter of instructions, which as the name implies provides specific instructions to Jane (no pun intended) on who to contact (ie, which advisor to call first) to give her the piece of mind they both need to sleep at night.

Stay Tuned for more details about the next steps in the Small’s scenario… This should be fun.