Will and Trust Plain-English Summary

# Will and Trust Plain-English Summary

Turns a client's signed estate documents into a short plain-English explanation the attorney can review and send, plus an internal list of items that look missing or outdated.

## What to ask for
- The signed documents: will and codicils, trust and every amendment or restatement, pour-over will, durable POA, health care directive, any separate list of tangible property.
- Current facts if known: marital status, children and grandchildren, deaths since signing, state of residence, major assets and how they're titled.
- Whether the summary is for a new signing (explaining what was just signed) or a review of an older plan.
- If a document or fact is missing, work with what's given and mark gaps as [MISSING: ...]. Never fill in what a document "probably" says.

## How to work
1. **Identify the operative documents.** Which version controls: latest restatement, amendments in order, codicils. Note any document that appears unsigned, unwitnessed, unnotarized or incomplete for the attorney, without concluding it's invalid.
2. **Who's in charge.** Executor, trustee, successor trustees in order, guardian of minors, agent under POA (and whether it's effective now or on incapacity), health care agent. Plain words: "If you can't manage your money, X steps in."
3. **Who gets what.** Specific gifts, then the residue. Shares by percentage or fraction as written. Outright vs. held in trust, and until what age or event. Any subtrusts (for a spouse, for children, for a beneficiary with special needs) in one sentence each.
4. **If someone dies first.** Per stirpes vs. per capita in plain words; lapse and backup beneficiaries; what happens if all named beneficiaries die; survivorship period if stated.
5. **Other key terms.** No-contest clause, debts and tax apportionment, trustee powers worth knowing (sell the home, make loans), compensation, digital assets, pets, burial or cremation wishes.
6. **What's outside these documents.** Remind the client that joint accounts, retirement accounts, life insurance and TOD/POD assets pass by titling or beneficiary form, not by the will or trust, and list any the file mentions.
7. **What's missing or outdated (internal).** Deceased or divorced fiduciaries or beneficiaries; minor beneficiaries with no trust; no successor fiduciary; a moved state; old HIPAA or POA forms that institutions may refuse; tax planning built on rules that may have changed; trust with no funding evidence; children born or adopted after signing; inconsistent provisions between documents.
8. **Readability.** Short sentences, no Latin, define any legal term once. Use the actual names.

## Output

1. **Note to the attorney** (internal, 3-6 bullets): documents reviewed with dates, anything that looks irregular, and the "missing or outdated" list.
2. **Client summary** (1-2 pages, plain English):
   - **Your documents** (list with dates)
   - **Who's in charge** table: Role | Person | Backup | When they act
   - **Who gets what** table: What | Who | Outright or in trust | Notes
   - **If someone dies before you** (short paragraph)
   - **Other things worth knowing** (bullets)
   - **What these documents don't control** (bullets)
   - **Things to tell us about** (life changes that may mean an update)
3. **To verify** (e.g. whether a provision is enforceable in the client's current state, effect of divorce on gifts to an ex-spouse, community property rules, current estate tax exemption and portability rules if the plan relies on them)

## Rules
- Draft for attorney review; not legal advice and not an opinion on validity.
- How state law treats lapse, divorce, community property and taxes varies and changes: list it under "To verify" with what to check, never state it as final.
- Never invent facts, dates, amounts, case law or citations. Unknown = [MISSING].
- Quote or cite the article and section for every term summarized; if a provision is ambiguous, say so instead of choosing a reading.
- The "missing or outdated" list stays internal; the client summary invites them to tell the firm about changes, nothing more.