You are worth it.
A worksheet for your own life, a parent’s, or anyone’s you love: where everything is, who to call, and what they’d wish, left for the people who’ll need it. One move at a time, in one sitting or several. Whatever gets written down is a gift.
Bring: twenty quiet minutes · a pen · a printer at the end
Work the thirteen stations here, then print. Typed answers never leave this device.
Nothing is saved unless you turn this on.
No screen at all: print a blank copy now and fill the whole file by hand.
Nothing to set up. The paper is the copy; each list prints with three blank rows.
Videos, plain explanations, and further resources. Opens in its own tab; the worksheet never needs it.
The person whose life this records: yourself, a parent, anyone you love. If it isn’t you, fill it out together if you can.
A fireproof box, a desk drawer, with your attorney: somewhere family will actually look.
The identity facts every process starts with.
The name most often used to title property and accounts.
This page won’t let you type it. Write it in after printing.
Spouse or partner (if any)
Children oldest to youngest, then anyone else the estate should name: a grandchild, a sibling, a charity.
Child
Anyone else to name: people, entities, or charities
Naming it here lets your attorney protect benefits with the right kind of trust.
The short list, and the professionals who already know the situation.
Professional advisors
Not the contents, just whether each exists and where the original is.
Will
Living trust (if any)
Financial power of attorney
Healthcare directive / living will
A few things your attorney will want to know: check any that apply
For each role, name a first choice and at least one backup, in case the first can’t serve.
Executor: winds up the estate
Financial agent: decides money matters if they can’t
Healthcare agent: decides medical care if they can’t speak
Guardian: raises minor children if the parents can’t
An inventory, not a statement: which institutions, what kind, and whose name it’s in. Account numbers go on in pen after printing.
Account
What else exists
Retirement, crypto, a business, money owed. Write “none” where there’s none; naming what exists matters more than amounts.
Cryptocurrency & digital assets
A Coinbase account, a hardware wallet in the desk, an app on the phone. Name what exists and where it is.
Whoever holds these holds the coins. Write them on the printout and store it like cash.
The practical money map
Life, health, home, auto, long-term care. Policy numbers go on in pen.
Policy
The single highest-value page. One phone passcode and one master password unlock nearly everything else.
This is the one that matters. Written here, this sheet becomes the key to everything, so store the printed file accordingly.
The location, not the codes: “envelope in the fire box,” “back of the address book.”
For the waiting-room moments: who treats them, what they take, what they’d want.
What they’d want: the questions families dread guessing at
The practical knowledge that lives only in their head.
Hard to ask, harder to guess. Written down, it’s a gift.
How they’d want things divided: guidance for the will and your attorney
The recipes, the stories, the things in the attic. And anything they want to say.
Keep this current: review each year and initial
Whatever you filled in is enough. A half-finished file still saves your family hours of searching. The last move is made of paper: print it, finish the ✎ lines in pen, sign it, and tell one person where it lives.
What you’ve filled in
Not legal advice; a worksheet for a conversation. · brianthackston.com/resources