You’re going to have three specific documents that I think are going to be involved in almost any estate plan. You’re going have, obviously, the will. There could be a trust, but there’s going to be some document that’s going to dispose of your property in the way that you want it disposed of when you pass away.

But the other two documents, which a lot of people sometimes put on the backburner, I think are maybe equally, maybe more important, are your advanced medical directive and your power of attorney. These are documents that are used while you’re alive to assist you in making your decisions, and helping handle your finances and that sort of thing. These documents are very important for your estate plan. And then they will feed into the will.

Sometimes an estate plan’s going to get more sophisticated and start using trusts. But the three basic documents are going to be the will, power of attorney, and advanced medical directive.