Your family estate checklist

You will complete a checklist of the estate documents your family has and still needs.

After lessons 7.1 to 7.3, most couples have a list of things they mean to do: make a will, update a CPF nomination, ask a sister about guardianship, look into an LPA. Six months later, most of those things are still things they mean to do. Estate documents are easy to postpone, because nothing bad happens on the day you skip them.

This exercise turns good intentions into a checklist with dates. You will see, for both partners, which documents are done, which are out of date and which are missing, where the originals are, and when each gap will be closed. Allow about twenty-five minutes and do it together.

Step 1: set up the checklist

Make a simple table on paper or in a spreadsheet. Give it three columns: the item, partner one and partner two. Then add these rows:

Will, including executor and backup executor CPF nomination Insurance nominations, one row per policy Guardian for the children, first and second choice, named in each will Lasting Power of Attorney, with donees and replacement List of accounts and how to access them

If you have no children, leave out the guardian row. If you have other important arrangements, such as jointly held property or a business, add a row for each.

Step 2: mark each item for each partner

For each row and each partner, write one of three words.

Done means the document exists, is valid and still says what you want.

Out of date means it exists but no longer fits: a will made before marriage, which lesson 7.1 explained is generally revoked; a CPF nomination made while single, which lesson 7.2 explained is revoked by marriage for non-Muslims; an insurance policy still naming a parent or a former partner; a guardian who has since moved overseas.

Missing means it does not exist.

Be strict. If you are not sure whether something is done, mark it out of date until you have checked.

Step 3: record where the originals are and who knows

For every item marked done, write where the original is kept and who besides you knows. A will in a drawer that nobody knows about is little better than no will. A will kept at a lawyer's office is only useful if your executor knows which office.

The list of accounts needs care. Write down every bank account, CPF, insurance policy, investment account and loan, with the institution and the account type, so your partner or executor knows where to look. Do not write passwords or one-time codes on paper, and never share them. Instead, record how access will work: a password manager with an emergency access feature, a sealed note held with your will, or simply the instruction that your executor contact each institution. Banks, insurers and the CPF Board have their own processes for dealing with a deceased person's accounts.

Step 4: set a date for every gap

For every item marked out of date or missing, write a date by which you will fix it and who is responsible. Some can be done in an evening: a CPF nomination online, or an insurance nomination form. Others take a few weeks: booking a lawyer for a will, or arranging a certificate issuer for an LPA through the process on the Office of the Public Guardian's website.

Then pick the first missing item and book it now, before you close the checklist.

A worked example

Marcus and Priya's checklist, from lesson 7.3, after an evening's work:

Will: Marcus out of date, made before their marriage. Priya missing. Date: book a lawyer to draft both wills by the end of next month, Priya responsible for booking.

CPF nomination: Marcus done, made after Ethan was born, naming Priya and the three children. Priya out of date, made before Ethan, naming only Marcus and the two older children. Date: Priya updates hers online this weekend.

Insurance nominations: Marcus's term policy has a trust nomination for Priya and the children, done. Priya's policy has a revocable nomination naming her mother, out of date by her own wishes. Date: Priya asks her insurer for a new form next week.

Guardian: agreed in lesson 7.3, Priya's sister first and Marcus's brother second. Missing from both wills until the wills are made.

LPA: missing for both. Date: within three months, after the wills, with the certificate issuer chosen from the Office of the Public Guardian's list.

List of accounts: missing. Date: this weekend, together, with a sealed note on access kept with the wills.

Originals: Marcus's old will is in the filing cabinet; Priya's sister knows. Policy documents are in the same drawer.

That is what done looks like: every row filled in for both partners, the location of each original and who knows, and a date and a name beside every gap, with the first one already booked.

Sit down together with your CPF dashboards and your insurance documents open, and start with the will row.

Complete the estate checklist for both partners and book a date to finish the first missing item.

Course

• Money as a couple and a family