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Your Final Wishes: Writing a Letter of Instruction
You have taken the important step of getting your will written and signed and your Power of Attorney and Living Will are both in place. These steps put you ahead of many Americans who have no legally enforceable documents in place to deal with the potential for incapacitation or death. How do you make sure your final wishes are followed?
A simple answer is to write a Letter of Instruction. A letter of instruction is something you write to tell your personal representative (also called an executor) what to do. Numerous details of handling your estate do not have a convenient place in your will, power of attorney, or living will. A letter of instruction allows you to set out these remaining details in writing so your personal representative, and family and friends, can follow your plans.
Contact Information
When you pass away, your personal representative has a lot of responsibility to administer your estate. They will need contact information for people including:
- Anyone named in the will, including beneficiaries and trustees of testamentary trusts
- Family, friends, or institutions such as your employer that should be informed of your death
- Professionals who handle your affairs, including lawyers, accountants, and bankers
- Beneficiaries designated on your accounts such as retirement accounts, life insurance policies, and bank accounts
Location of Important Paperwork
Your Personal Representative will need to have access to a variety of legal and financial documents to effectively administer your estate. You should have documents such as the following organized and tell your personal representative where to find the files:
- Bank, life insurance, and investment account statements
- Tax returns
- Social Security Card and Statements (if you are receiving social security benefits)
- Health insurance information
- Birth and marriage certificates, divorce and citizenship documents
- Titles and/or deeds for real property and vehicles
- Will, trusts, and other relevant estate documents
- Prepaid funeral arrangements or burial plot information
Account Information
Account information should include account numbers for your financial institutions and insurance plans. You will also need to plan for your digital accounts. You may need to provide login credentials for social media accounts, email accounts, your cellphone and computer passwords, and any other digital accounts you use. This should also include subscription accounts for TV streaming or music streaming. You will also want to instruct your Personal Representative on what to do with your digital accounts. How do you want your social media accounts handled? Do you want your online subscriptions canceled? These are all important details. You may also wish to express a plan for how your digital assets such as computer files and digital photographs will be maintained and who will take possession of those.
Physical Asset Locations
Your Personal Representative needs to be able to locate all your personal property and real estate to manage, value, and distribute your estate. This includes the obvious assets, such as parcels of land, as well as ones you might not think about as much. Some of the assets that are physically located in places that are not obvious include storage units, safe deposit boxes (keys and the bank where it is located), workshops or art studios you rent, and any property you have loaned to someone (such as tools). Additionally, if you have loaned money to anyone or sold something on credit, keep a list of the debtors who owe you money along with any documentation you have to prove the validity of the debt.
List of Creditors
Keep a list of who you owe money to along with the account numbers. Your personal representative will need to settle all claims against you through your estate. The job is much easier if they have a list of credit card companies, financial institutions, mortgage lenders, and other parties that you owe money. This list should also include any subscriptions you pay for on a monthly or yearly basis, such as cellphone plans, home internet, or newspaper subscriptions, so your personal representative can pay any final bills and close those accounts.
Instructions for the Care of Animals
If you have animals, whether they be dogs and cats or goats and chickens, you should provide instructions on how the animals should be cared for or disposed of (e.g. selling your flock of chickens) upon your death. Your will might set aside money to be used for the care of your animals or pets, but you may also wish to give more specific instructions on the actual care of the animals. You should list details about veterinary care and veterinarian contact information, feeding instructions, and other critical information to keep your animals healthy and happy.
Notes to Beneficiaries
You can leave instructions for your Personal Representative to tell the beneficiaries of your estate something for you. You might wish to leave separate letters for select family members or friends that offer some parting wisdom or your desire for how they should use their inheritance from you. The Letter of Instruction is the perfect place to provide this information for your Personal Representative.
No Formalities Required
A Letter of Instruction does not require any specific formalities. Unlike a will, you do not need witnesses and precise legal language to make sure the letter is valid. You can handwrite the letter or type it and print it out. You can update the letter with new information, removed information, or changed information any time based on major life events or simply a change in your bank account information. This letter provides an easy, flexible way to keep your final wishes up to date without the need to gather witnesses or a notary.
The two most important points are this: (1) Keep the letter up to date and (2) Tell someone where it is located. Just like the rest of your estate plans, you should keep this letter up to date with any major changes in your life as well as a simple review every couple of years to make sure it is still in line with your plans. Finally, tell someone, such as your Personal Representative or your spouse or a close family member, where to find the letter. Keep the letter in the drawer of your desk or your filing cabinet or on a shared cloud drive, wherever you wish, but make sure someone can locate the letter when you die. A letter no one can find is as useful as a letter that is never written. Make sure your final wishes are followed with a simple Letter of Instruction.
NOTE OF GENERAL DISCLAIMER: No Attorney-Client Relationship is formed as a result of information provided on this Web site. The site is for informational purposes only and is not intended to give specific legal advice.
