The Estate Plan Module

The core legal documents and named roles that direct the estate — the will, trusts, powers of attorney, and directives, the estate professionals, beneficiary-designation coordination, the trust inventory, and charitable bequests.

Where this Module fits

E-09 Module 9 of 9 in the Estate area — step 4 of 4 on the dependency ladder (System → At-Home → Financial → Estate).

The legal capstone — placed last so everything it depends on is already in place.

Adds to The Secure Guide: Core documents, professionals, named roles, beneficiary coordination, trusts, bequests.

Adds to The Family Guide: The plain-language summary — the estate attorney is the first call.

Every Module adds one section to each guide — that is how the two guides assemble as you work. See what you're building.

Text file — the flexible one. Use it as-is, paste it into a spreadsheet, open it in any editor, or paste it into an AI tool to reshape the blank form to fit your family: rename a field, add a row, drop one you don't need.

Print / PDF — the ready-to-use one. Print it and fill it in by hand, or choose Save as PDF and complete it in your own offline PDF app. Either way it stays with you — the finished Secure Guide template goes inside your Vault.

One rule: only ever give an AI tool the blank template. Never paste your real information — passwords, account numbers, anything you'd keep secret — into an AI tool, an online service, or anywhere outside your own Vault. Customizing an empty form is fine; filling it in happens privately, offline. That's the same rule this site follows: nothing sensitive ever leaves your hands.

Secure Guide Starter Template — Estate Plan

This template belongs in The Secure Guide, stored within The Vault. Review at every estate plan update and every annual FIRM review.

Every Module in the system has been preparation for this one. The accounts are documented, the assets inventoried, the entities mapped, the people named — what remains is the legal architecture that makes the preparation enforceable, and the coordination that keeps the documents true to the financial life they govern. The most common failure in otherwise sound estate plans is not drafting; it is the gap between what the documents say and what the structure actually is. One action is sufficient to begin: schedule a meeting with an estate attorney, and bring your Family Guide.

The beneficiary-designation review below is the highest-leverage table on this page. Designations on retirement accounts, life insurance, and annuities pass assets outside the will entirely — a will that leaves everything to a spouse protects nothing an old designation has already promised elsewhere. The same review doubles as an integrity audit: a designation that no longer matches the plan is either an oversight or a change made without the family's knowledge, and the rhythm of reconciling designations against the plan surfaces both. One more rule defeats imitation in estate administration, where documents move among people who may never meet: the channels are fixed in advance. Changes of instruction, requests for certified copies, and distribution directions are confirmed with your known attorney through the established channel — never accepted from an inbound message alone, even one that appears to come from the executor or a family member.

Core Legal Documents
Document	Date Executed	Attorney / Preparer	Storage Location	Copy With	Last Reviewed
Last Will and Testament
Revocable Living Trust
Durable Power of Attorney (Financial)
Healthcare Power of Attorney
Advance Healthcare Directive / Living Will
POLST / MOLST (if applicable)
Guardianship Designation (if applicable)
Personal Property Memorandum (if applicable)

Estate Professionals
Name	Role	Firm	Phone	Email	Last Contact
	Estate Attorney
	Financial Advisor
	CPA / Accountant
	Corporate Trustee (if applicable)

Named Roles — Estate Plan
Role	Name	Contact	Document Where Named
Executor			Will
Successor Executor			Will
Trustee			Trust
Successor Trustee			Trust
Power of Attorney (Financial)			DPOA
Healthcare Proxy			HCPOA
Guardian (minor children)			Will
Digital Executor

Beneficiary Designations — Coordination Review
Account / Policy	Institution	Current Beneficiary	Contingent Beneficiary	Last Reviewed	Aligned with Trust / Will
					Yes / No
					Yes / No
					Yes / No

Beneficiary designations on retirement accounts, life insurance policies, and annuities supersede the will. Review designations at every estate plan update and at every annual FIRM review.

Trust Inventory — Estate Instruments
Trust Name	Type	Purpose	Key Assets	Trustee	Successor Trustee	Document Location
	Revocable
	Irrevocable

For trusts as operating structures and entity documentation, see the Entities Module.

Special-purpose trusts — including a special-needs trust for a dependent, or a pet trust providing for the care of an animal (flagged in the Pet Information and Care Module) — are documented here as estate instruments and drafted with your attorney.

Charitable Bequests
Organization	Legal Name	EIN	Bequest Type	Amount / Percentage	Document Where Specified

Confirm legal name and EIN for every named charitable organization. See the Philanthropy Module.

Tax Records Integration

Where gift tax returns (Form 709), trust documentation, and charitable contribution records are retained (the Tax Planning archive). See the Tax Planning and Documentation Module for the full retention schedule.

TagsEstate Plan; secure-guide; family-guide; Estate

Family Guide Starter Template — Estate Plan

This template belongs in The Family Guide. It summarizes the plan, names the attorney, and gives the order of first calls.

In the matching Secure Guide section: core documents, professionals, named roles, beneficiary coordination, trusts, bequests.

That detail is what makes recovery possible — and it is protected in the Vault, which opens with The Vault Key. The key is never written here, by design. The people listed on this page know how it is kept, and the steward's job is to keep that path current, so this page never leads to a locked door.

Our Estate Plan — Summary
Document	Purpose	Who Is Named
Will	Distributes assets; names executor	Executor:
Trust	Holds and distributes assets outside probate	Trustee:
Power of Attorney	Manages finances if incapacitated	Agent:
Healthcare Directive	Guides medical decisions	Proxy:

Our Estate Attorney

Name, firm, and phone. This attorney holds copies of the will, trust, and related documents; contact them first for any questions about the estate.

First Calls

The full first-calls list is in the Communications section. For estate matters: contact the attorney, then the financial advisor, then the executor — in that order, before taking any other action.

Beneficiary Designations

Certain accounts and policies pass directly to named beneficiaries outside the will; these designations are documented in The Secure Guide. Do not assume all assets transfer through the will.

A Note to Our Family

Optional closing message in the planner's own voice — that everything was organized with care, the named people are trusted, and if something is unclear to call the attorney.

Estate matters run on documents and instructions exchanged among people who may never meet. The rule that protects every link: confirm changes and requests with the attorney at the number on this page — never from an inbound message alone, however official it looks.

Additional Guidance

Anything this page's reader should know that the sections above didn't ask for — the exceptions, the house quirks, the thing you would say out loud while handing this page over.

For more information on how to use these templates, see The Recoverable Family book.

Worked example — Frank's family

Frank walked into Ruth Alvarez's office in June carrying the Family Guide — the asset summary, the insurance overview, the beneficiary list, every professional's name and number. Ruth said it was the most prepared she had seen a client arrive. One meeting; documents signed in two weeks. The section below is what the year of FIRM work was for.

All details are fictional and illustrative. The assembled example guides live at the example Secure Guide and the example Family Guide.

Secure Guide — Frank's entry

The Estate Plan section of the Mercers' Secure Guide — the June 2026 refresh with Ruth Alvarez, Alvarez Law Office:

Core Legal Documents
Document	Date Executed	Attorney / Preparer	Storage Location	Copy With	Last Reviewed
Wills — Frank + Sarah	2026-06 (replace the 2023 originals)	Ruth Alvarez	Fire safe, home office	Ruth Alvarez (executed copies)	2026-06
Mercer Family Revocable Living Trust	2026-06	Ruth Alvarez	Original at Alvarez Law; certified copy in the fire safe	Tom Mercer (successor trustee — has read it)	2026-06
Durable Power of Attorney — Financial (each of us → the other)	2026-06	Ruth Alvarez	Fire safe	Ruth Alvarez	2026-06
Healthcare Power of Attorney (Frank → Sarah)	2023 — reviewed 2026-06	Ruth Alvarez	Fire safe	Sarah + Ruth Alvarez	2026-06
Healthcare Power of Attorney (Sarah → Frank)	2026-06 — new; the review caught that only Frank had one	Ruth Alvarez	Fire safe	Frank + Ruth Alvarez	2026-06
Advance directives / living wills — Frank (2023), Sarah (2026-06, same catch)	2023 / 2026-06	Ruth Alvarez	Fire safe; on file with Westvale Family Practice	Ruth Alvarez	2026-06
Guardianship designation (the kids)	In the wills, 2026-06	Ruth Alvarez	With the wills	Tom knows; Beth Keller (alternate) knows — both said yes first	2026-06
Personal property memorandum	2026-06	Written by us, in Ruth's format	With the wills, fire safe	—	The coin collection's which-pieces-to-which-kid answer lives here (see Other Assets)

Estate Professionals
Name	Role	Firm	Phone	Email	Last Contact
Ruth Alvarez	Estate attorney	Alvarez Law Office	555-0177	r.alvarez@alvarezlaw.example	2026-06 — signing
Elena Vargas	Financial advisor	Alder Wealth	555-0146	e.vargas@alderwealth.example	2026-06 — beneficiary pass
Marcus Lee	CPA	Lee & Tran	555-0153	—	2026-02 — filing season
Corporate trustee	None — Tom Mercer serves	—	—	—	Revisit only if the trust ever outgrows the family

Named Roles — Estate Plan
Role	Name	Contact	Document Where Named
Executor	Sarah (Frank's will) / Frank (Sarah's will)	—	Wills
Successor Executor	Tom Mercer	555-0119	Wills
Trustee	Frank + Sarah, jointly	—	Trust
Successor Trustee	Tom Mercer	555-0119	Trust
Power of Attorney (Financial)	Each other; successor: Tom	—	DPOAs
Healthcare Proxy	Each other	—	HCPOAs
Guardian (the kids)	Tom Mercer; alternate: Beth Keller	555-0119 / 555-0163	Wills
Digital Executor	Sarah; backup: Tom	—	Wills, 2026-06 — the informal designation from Digital Legacy, now formal. That Module's agenda item, closed

Beneficiary Designations — Coordination Review
Account / Policy	Institution	Current Beneficiary	Contingent Beneficiary	Last Reviewed	Aligned with Trust / Will
401(k) — Frank	ClearPath Retirement	Sarah	The kids	2026-06	Yes
Term life — Frank	Beacon Life	Sarah	The kids (added 2026-06 — the policy had named only Sarah since 2009)	2026-06	Yes
Group life — Frank, via Meridian	Cornerstone Life	Sarah	—	2026-06	Yes
Old 401(k) — Sarah	Horizon Retirement	UPDATE FILED — still showed Sarah's parents from her Brightline years; change to Frank filed 2026-06	Frank	2026-06	Pending — chase the confirmation letter in July
Roth IRA — Frank	Summit Brokerage	Sarah	The kids	2026-06	Yes

Ruth's standing memo: with the trust in place, revisit naming it as the contingent beneficiary for the kids' shares at the fall review — minors can't receive these accounts directly. And the review rhythm is the audit: a designation that doesn't match the plan is either an oversight or a change nobody authorized, and this table catches both.

Trust Inventory — Estate Instruments
Trust Name	Type	Purpose	Key Assets	Trustee	Successor Trustee	Document Location
Mercer Family Revocable Living Trust	Revocable	Pass the house — and, once retitled, the brokerage — outside probate	House; brokerage retitle in progress	Frank + Sarah	Tom Mercer	Original at Alvarez Law; copy in the fire safe

Same trust as the Entities Module — there as an operating structure, here as an estate instrument, both on purpose. No special-needs or pet trust: Cooper's care is a designated-caregiver arrangement with Tom, not a trust — see Pet Information and Care.

Charitable Bequests
Organization	Legal Name	EIN	Bequest Type	Amount / Percentage	Document Where Specified
First-Generation Scholarship Fund, Westvale State	Westvale State University Foundation	84-5550162	Specific bequest	$10,000 in each will	Wills, 2026-06 — see the Philanthropy Module

Tax Records Integration

No gift-tax returns to date — the giving stays under the annual exclusion, and Marcus confirms that each February. Trust document scans: FrankSecure → Estate → Trust. Charitable receipts: the Giving folder in the tax archive. See Tax Planning and Documentation for the retention schedule.

Family Guide — Frank's entry

The estate page of the Family Guide — the plain-language summary and the calling order.

Our Estate Plan — Summary
Document	Purpose	Who Is Named
Wills (one each)	Distribute what the trust doesn't hold; name the executor and the kids' guardian	Executor: Mom / Dad for each other; successor: Uncle Tom
Trust	Holds the house so it skips the court process	Trustees: Mom + Dad; successor: Uncle Tom
Powers of Attorney	Money decisions if one of us can't act	Each other, then Uncle Tom
Healthcare Directives	Medical decisions, plus our wishes in writing	Each other

Our Estate Attorney

Ruth Alvarez, Alvarez Law Office — 555-0177. She holds executed copies of everything and has known this family since 2023. For any estate question, she is the first call.

First Calls

For estate matters, in this order: Ruth Alvarez (555-0177), then Elena Vargas (555-0146), then the executor — before taking any other action. The full first-calls list is on the Communications page.

Beneficiary Designations

The retirement accounts and life insurance pass directly to named people, outside the will — all reviewed June 2026 and listed in The Secure Guide. Don't assume the will covers everything; it isn't supposed to.

A Note to Our Family

Everything here was organized with care and updated in June 2026. The people named are named because we trust them. If anything is unclear — or anyone contacts you claiming something has changed — call Ruth on the number above. Nothing about this plan changes by phone call or message. — F & S

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