You’ve heard about the importance of California estate planning from everyone including your mother-in-law, your neighbor, and the Newport Beach estate planning lawyer you see every morning at your favorite coffee shop.

But the idea is still as hard to swallow as the first sips of that overly hot coffee. Where do I begin? Do I really want to think about my death when I’m so young? There are many questions that surround planning your estate, but these tough questions don’t take away from the importance of doing it.

The first and easiest thing to do when starting to plan your estate is to take inventory of all of your assets.

Step back and look at everything that you “own” in your life. I put this in quotation marks because there are a number of assets that people simply forget about when taking inventory of their estate.

When taking inventory, write down what you have and their value. Don’t forget to include:

– House

– Car(s)

– 401k or retirement accounts, including the ones from previous jobs that you have yet to rollover

– Life or other insurance policies

– Real estate

– Objects of value in your possession (family heirlooms, jewelry, etc.)

– Bank accounts

– Trust funds

After you have compiled this list, what do you do with it? The next logical step is to create a Last Will and Testament, which will determine where those assets should go after you die. Not sure how to do this? Contact an experienced Newport Beach estate planning attorney at Morgan Law Group by calling (949) 260-1400 to schedule a free Family Wealth Planning Session (normally $750).

We can help you turn that list into a complete estate plan so that you can protect your assets and ensure that your wishes are properly carried out after you are gone.