Will preparation worksheet: What to gather before you see an attorney

Key takeaways

A will preparation worksheet collects everything your attorney needs before your first meeting.

Filling it in first cuts the discovery time you pay for, so more of the fee goes toward drafting.

It covers personal details, assets, beneficiaries, your executor, guardianship, and healthcare directives.

Digital assets belong on the list too, including cryptocurrency, online accounts, and social media profiles.

Only Louisiana requires a notary for a valid will, and most other states require two witnesses instead.

A will preparation worksheet is a fill-in form that gathers every detail your attorney needs to draft your will. You complete it at home, at your own pace, and bring it to the first appointment.

That one step changes what the appointment costs. Instead of paying billable time while a lawyer asks what you own and who inherits it, you arrive with the answers written down. Below is what belongs in each section.

What is a will preparation worksheet?

It is a structured planning document, not a legal one. It walks you through your personal details, your property, your beneficiaries, your choice of executor, and your wishes on guardianship and medical care.

The worksheet never replaces the will itself. Your attorney treats it as source material, then drafts a document that meets your state’s signing rules and holds up in probate court. A broader life plan worksheet covers the same instinct for decisions you make while living.

Filled in properly, it does three jobs at once:

• Puts your personal and family information in one place
• Documents every asset and property holding you own
• Records who inherits what, and in what share
• Names an executor and at least one alternate
• Sets out guardianship wishes for children under 18
• Captures your end-of-life healthcare preferences

Why to fill it in before your attorney meeting

Turning up unprepared means paying billable hours for information gathering. A completed worksheet turns the first meeting from a question-and-answer session into a review of decisions you have already made.

A basic attorney-drafted will typically runs $300 to $1,000. A fuller plan, with trusts, a power of attorney, and healthcare directives, usually runs $1,000 to $5,000 or more. Either way, every hour spent listing bank accounts is an hour not spent on legal strategy.

• Cuts billable hours by settling your wishes upfront
• Stops an asset or a beneficiary being overlooked during drafting
• Gives your attorney a written brief to work from
• Creates a dated record of your decisions, useful if the will is later contested
• Frees the meeting for legal strategy rather than data entry

What to include, section by section

The form breaks into six sections, each capturing something your attorney will ask for anyway. Knowing what belongs where is what stops you filling it in twice.

Personal information

Every will opens with your full legal name, current address, date of birth, and marital status. This section also records your Social Security number, your driver’s license number, and the names and birthdates of all children, biological and adopted.

Assets and property inventory

Document everything you own, with a current estimated value against each line. That means real estate, bank and savings accounts, investment and retirement accounts, vehicles, and personal property worth listing separately, such as jewelry, art, or collectibles.

Naming your beneficiaries

List every person or organization you want to inherit, with the percentage or dollar amount each one receives. Name contingent beneficiaries as well. If a primary beneficiary dies before you do, their share then passes on instead of falling back into the estate.

One point catches people out. Retirement accounts, life insurance, and payable-on-death accounts pass to whoever is named on the account, not to whoever is named in your will. Check those designations while you fill in the asset table, because the will cannot override them.

Choosing an executor

Your executor, also called a personal representative, runs the estate after your death. They collect assets, pay debts and taxes, and distribute what remains. Pick someone trustworthy, organized, and willing to serve, then name at least one alternate.

Appointing a guardian for minor children

If you have children under 18, your will names who raises them should both parents die. That is separate from financial guardianship, which covers managing their money. Ask your proposed guardian before you write the name down.

Special bequests and specific gifts

Record gifts of particular items, such as jewelry to a daughter, a car to a son, or a collection to a museum. Specific cash gifts go here too. These are honored first, before what remains is divided among your main beneficiaries.

Beyond the will: Living wills, power of attorney, and healthcare proxies

A will governs your property after death. A living will and a healthcare proxy govern what happens while you are alive but unable to speak for yourself. The three documents are written together for a reason.

A living will, also called an advance directive, records your wishes on life-sustaining treatment. That covers resuscitation, mechanical ventilation, feeding tubes, and organ donation. A medical power of attorney names the person who makes those calls if you cannot.

A durable power of attorney does the same job for money. It lets someone pay your bills, reach your accounts, and manage property if you become incapacitated. Together, the three documents close the questions a will on its own leaves open.

How to complete it: Step by step

Five steps take the form from blank to ready for your attorney.

1. Gather your paperwork first: Pull together bank statements, property deeds, investment statements, insurance policies, and any existing will or trust. A life checklist is a useful prompt for anything you have forgotten.
2. Fill in the personal section: Enter your full legal name, address, Social Security number, marital status, and the birthdates of everyone in the family. This is what identifies the will as yours.
3. Work through the asset table: List each holding with a current estimated value. Note which retirement and insurance accounts already carry a named beneficiary, since those pass outside the will.
4. Set out who inherits what: For each beneficiary, record their full legal name, their relationship to you, and their share. Check that the percentages add up to 100 before you move on.
5. Talk it through, then book the appointment: Tell your executor and any named guardian what you have decided. A nonviolent communication worksheet helps if you expect the conversation to be difficult.

Signing rules vary by state. Most states require two witnesses at the signing, and only Louisiana requires a notary for the will itself. Elsewhere a notary is optional, and is used for a self-proving affidavit that speeds up probate later.

Store the signed original somewhere your executor can reach it, such as a home safe, a safe deposit box, or your attorney’s office. Keep a copy at home, and give one to your executor and your healthcare proxy.

Common mistakes to avoid

Five errors show up again and again, and every one of them lands on the executor rather than the person who made it.

• Leaving the will untouched after a life event: A will written at 35 rarely matches what you want at 55. Remarriage, children, and asset growth all change the answer.
• Naming no alternate executor: If your executor dies or cannot serve, the court appoints someone instead. A named backup avoids that.
• Skipping digital assets: Cryptocurrency, online bank accounts, photo libraries, and social media profiles get forgotten. Executors are then locked out of them.
• Keeping your decisions private: Surprises in a will cause disputes. Telling the people affected while you are alive costs one awkward conversation and saves several.
• Storing the original badly: A will nobody can find does nothing. Your executor needs to know where it is and be able to get to it.

Digital assets and online accounts

Most estates now include property that has no paper trail. Your executor needs to reach cryptocurrency wallets, online banking, email, social media profiles, and subscription services. Very few worksheets ask about any of it.

Cryptocurrency is the sharpest example. Coins held in a wallet are unrecoverable if nobody knows the wallet exists or holds the private keys. The same risk applies to an online business, a mailing list, or decades of family photos in cloud storage.

Add a digital section to your worksheet and list what you hold:

• Cryptocurrency holdings, with the wallet type and where the keys are kept
• Online banking logins and the recovery email attached to each
• Subscription services, including cloud storage and software licenses
• Social media usernames and any account you want closed or memorialized
• Domain names, websites, and any business run online
• Photo libraries and digital art collections

Keep the credentials themselves out of the worksheet. Put them in a password manager or a sealed envelope, and record only where your executor should look.

How Pabau helps practices handle patient planning documents

Advance directives and healthcare proxies usually reach a patient as a printout at reception. The patient takes it home, forgets it, and the practice has no record either way. Front desk staff then chase paper that may never come back.

Practice management software like Pabau sends the same documents digitally instead. Patients complete and sign them from a phone before the appointment, and the signed copy files itself against the patient record. Nothing sits in a tray waiting to be scanned.

That matters most where these conversations are routine. Mental health practices documenting end-of-life discussions get a timestamped record without extra admin. The patient portal then lets patients pull their own copies back when an attorney asks for them.

The same setup suits longevity practices, where planning documents get revisited every year. Reminders go out automatically, so nobody has to remember which patient signed which version.

Send and store planning documents without paper

Pabau sends advance directives and consent documents to patients before the appointment, then files the signed copy straight to their record. Your front desk stops chasing forms, and nothing goes missing between visits.

Book a demo

Conclusion

The worksheet is worth an evening, not a weekend. Print it, work through the asset table with your statements open, and leave the harder choices about guardians and executors for a second sitting.

What you gain is control over how the attorney’s time gets spent. Walk in with the facts settled and the conversation moves on. Your lawyer spends the hour on trusts, tax exposure, and language that survives a challenge.

One trade-off is worth remembering. A worksheet is only accurate on the day you finish it, so diary a review whenever your assets or your family change. Book a demo to see how Pabau keeps patient planning documents signed, filed, and easy to find.

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Frequently asked questions