As we wrote last week, since his mother’s death, Jack and the bank took his mother’s Will from her safe deposit box and filed it with the court.  As he had thought, her Will names Jack to be executor. 

Next, he should try to find all her assets, because he will need to list them and account for them to and any other beneficiaries, and maybe also to the court.  But it’s been a bit rough.

He found himself searching through all of her files and papers stashed in various places in her house, hoping he wasn’t missing anything important. His mother used several different banks for savings accounts and CDs.  She also had shares in several different mutual funds and held a few stocks.

The biggest trouble was trying to tell outdated, closed accounts or sold-off assets from those that are still current.  It would have been simpler if his mother had taken some time to keep a general list of her assets in one place. 

As part of helping you create your estate plan, our office prepares a notebook designed to help you put your own house in order by listing information that is easy for you to write down.  But it would probably not be so easy for your family to recreate that information after your death. 

Part of estate planning is putting your financial affairs into reasonable order.  Our estate plans include help to jumpstart your organization.  If you would like to get started on organizing your estate plan, just call our office at 436-1996 to ask for an Estate Planning Worksheet or to schedule an estate planning appointment. ©2012 Gruber Law Office, Ltd.