Estate Planning Workbook

What Your Will Does Not Control

Beneficiary designations, how each account is titled, and any trust you own generally decide where your assets go before your will ever applies. Those three are the ones families review least often.

This workbook explains the order your assets actually transfer in, then gives you the same questionnaire an estate planning attorney uses — assets, documents, fiduciaries, and the people who need to know where everything is kept.

Cover of Beyond a Will, an estate planning workbook and questionnaire from Gatewood Wealth Solutions, showing three generations of a family smiling together on a couch.
SNEAK PEEK

What's Inside the Workbook

Your will is only one of five things that decide where your assets go, and it is close to last in line. Beneficiary designations, account titling, and trusts usually come first, and they are often the ones people review least. This workbook explains how those pieces fit together, then gives you a place to record your own information so you’re ready to work with your attorney and advisor.

The workbook covers:

  • A 5-minute pulse check to see where your estate plan stands today
  • How your assets actually transfer, and which document or designation controls each one
  • The core documents explained: wills, trusts, powers of attorney, healthcare directives, HIPAA authorizations, and digital asset authorizations
  • A full estate planning questionnaire covering your family, fiduciaries, medical wishes, advisors, assets, and liabilities
  • Guidance on choosing the right people, including trustees, executors, and guardians for minor children
  • A “where everything lives” page and a 30-day action plan so your family can find what they need
Two inside pages of the Beyond a Will estate planning workbook: a Start Here page with a quick pulse check checklist, and a How Your Assets Actually Transfer page showing the five things that control where assets go, from beneficiary designations to state law.