Ensuring your affairs are organized and your loved ones are cared for when you’re gone is a top priority. To protect your legacy, you need an estate plan. This is a set of legal documents outlining what will happen with your assets and financial affairs when you pass away or become incapacitated. A well-crafted estate plan aims to ensure the your wishes are respected and that your intended beneficiaries receive everything you’ve set aside for them.
However, achieving an efficient asset distribution according to your wishes depends on including the right documents for estate planning. If your estate plan lacks a key document, the consequences could include:
- The state distributing your assets according to intestacy laws rather than your wishes.
- A lengthy and expensive probate process where a court intervenes in your asset distributions.
- Avoidable arguments between beneficiaries about who should get what.
- Unnecessary taxes burdening your beneficiaries.
This guide explains what documents are needed for estate planning to avoid these consequences and secure your legacy.
The Five Most Important Estate Planning Documents
The essential documents for estate planning depend on how you want to distribute your assets. Most people should have all five of the following basic estate planning documents to ensure the resulting distributions reflect your intentions.

1. A Will or Trust
A last will and testament, also called a will for short, is one of the most important estate planning documents. It can outline:
- How you want to distribute your assets after your death.
- Who will be the guardian over any minor children you leave behind until they reach adulthood.
- Who will be the executor overseeing the distribution of your assets and ensuring it follows your will.
For some, a will can be the main estate planning document outlining asset distribution and beneficiaries. For others, a trust may be a better option.
A trust is a tool for holding and distributing assets according to your specifications during and after your lifetime. There are several distinctions between a trust and a will. A trust generally offers more flexibility. For example, you can use a trust to distribute money and assets to your beneficiaries upon your death — either all at once or over time.
The most common type of trust for estate planning is a revocable living trust. This means you can change the trust’s terms or revoke it altogether at any point in your lifetime. For example, if you have specified a distribution to help your child complete their education, but they graduate while you’re still alive, you could allocate those funds to another purpose. The assets in this trust go to the beneficiaries without passing through probate, saving your beneficiaries time and money in receiving their inheritance.
When establishing a trust, you appoint a trustee to manage distributions according to your specifications. A living trust allows you to name yourself as the trustee so you can manage the trust, but you must also name a successor trustee, who can take over managing affairs upon your death, incapacitation or another triggering event as designated in your trust.
Setting up a trust for your assets lets you specify what happens to those assets without needing your will to mention them. However, it’s still prudent to have a will. When you also have a trust, the supplemental will is called a “pour-over will.” It provides direction for assets outside your trust and can address matters like guardianship of minor children. If you don’t have a trust, your will should include distribution wishes for all your assets.
2. Power of Attorney
This document appoints another person, called your “agent,” to make binding decisions on your behalf under certain conditions, like if you become incapacitated and can no longer handle your affairs. Estate plans should include a durable power of attorney (POA), appointing an agent with full authority to manage your financial matters in your place.
An estate planning lawyer can help you create a custom, durable POA document specifying what assets your agent or agents can control under what circumstances. Some people use multiple POAs, such as making a business partner the agent over your commercial assets while a family member can manage your personal assets, household bills and taxes.
3. Beneficiary Designation
Assets like retirement accounts and life insurance policies require you to designate beneficiaries, generally through the accounts or policies themselves, outside of a will or trust. Ensure your beneficiary designations for all your assets are consistent and up to date.
However, your estate plan should name all your intended beneficiaries and state what you want them to receive. Your will should contain a list of your designated beneficiaries, and any trusts you open should have their own list of beneficiaries for the assets in that trust.
4. Health Care Directive
Your estate plan should have a health care directive, also called an advance directive. This document includes a living will in which you make important decisions about your own health care in advance, which will be legally binding even if you become incapacitated. These decisions could include:
- End-of-life treatment preferences in case you become permanently incapacitated.
- Any pain management treatments you want to receive or avoid.
- Whether you want to be an organ donor after death.
The health care directive can also come with a medical POA, giving an agent authority over your health care if you become incapacitated. Upon your incapacitation, this person will be responsible for making decisions about your health care or voicing any direction provided in your health care directive. Most people choose a spouse or oldest child, but you can appoint anyone you trust.
5. Letter of Intent
A letter of personal intent is a note you leave to your executor or trustee. It can include:
- Final messages to convey to your loved ones.
- Other personal wishes like funeral arrangements.
This document is not legally binding like a will or trust, but a trustworthy executor will carry out the wishes you express here as best they can.
Why Trust Us for California Estate Planning Documents
Barulich Dugoni Suttmann & Cummins is an award-winning California law firm with an experienced team of attorneys. Our attorneys specialize in estate planning and probate, as well as the related fields of tax law and real estate. We take a strategic approach, putting our clients’ goals first, anticipating risks and protecting what they have worked hard to build. Since our founding in 1989, we’ve earned a nationwide reputation for proactive, cost-effective estate planning solutions for even the largest and most complex estates.
Our attorneys have specialized experience in:
- Forming wills and trusts that reflect our client’s wishes.
- Administering trusts for efficient distributions.
- Creating comprehensive wealth transfer strategies.
- Offering expert advice to reduce tax burdens.
- Integrating real estate planning into an estate plan.
- Protecting assets from lawsuits and creditors.
- Resolving probate efficiently if required.
- Litigating to defend our clients’ wishes if necessary.
Contact Barulich Dugoni Suttmann & Cummins for Estate Planning in California
Getting all your estate planning documents together for a smooth and cost-efficient asset transfer can be challenging. A professional estate planning attorney can help you prepare the right documents for seamless wealth transfer while minimizing risks and avoiding costly mistakes. The attorneys at Barulich Dugoni Suttmann & Cummins provide all the estate planning support you need to prepare your documents and protect what you’ve built for your beneficiaries.
Contact us today for a free consultation to assess your estate planning needs.
