Complimentary self-assessment

Estate Plan Check-Up

A free, structured review of where your plan stands: which documents you have, whether your trust is funded, whether your beneficiary designations match the plan, and what may be missing. It takes about five minutes and gives you a summary on screen, which you can download as a PDF.

Private by design. The Check-Up runs entirely in your own browser. Your answers are not sent to Vickery Law PLLC, are not stored, and disappear when you close or reload the page. Even so, please do not enter account numbers, Social Security numbers, or other sensitive identifiers.

⚖ Before You Begin, Important Notice

This Estate Plan Check-Up is a self-directed informational tool provided by Vickery Law PLLC for general planning purposes only. Please read the following carefully before proceeding.

No legal advice. The questions asked and results generated by this tool do not constitute legal advice, legal analysis, or a legal opinion. They are general educational information and planning prompts, not guidance tailored to your specific legal situation.

No attorney-client relationship. Use of this tool, including completing all sections and reviewing your results, does not create an attorney-client relationship with Vickery Law PLLC or with Chad Vickery. No duties of representation, confidentiality, or professional responsibility arise from your use of this tool.

No confidentiality. Because no attorney-client relationship is created, information you enter into this tool is not protected by attorney-client privilege. You should not enter sensitive personal, financial, or legal details beyond what is necessary to complete the general assessment categories provided.

No substitute for professional counsel. Every individual's legal and financial situation is unique. Before making any changes to your estate plan, including modifications to wills, trusts, powers of attorney, beneficiary designations, or other documents, consult a licensed attorney who can advise you based on your specific circumstances, applicable state law, and your complete financial picture.

No data collected. All responses run locally in your browser and are not transmitted to or stored by Vickery Law PLLC. Once you close or reload this page, all session data is permanently cleared.

Scroll within the box above to read the full notice.

I have read and understand the above. I acknowledge that this tool provides general information only, does not constitute legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship with Vickery Law PLLC.

Progress

Where is your estate primarily located?

Not Started

Select the state where you reside and hold most of your assets.

Do you have core documents?

Not Started

If you are 18 or older, the following documents are essential, not just for end-of-life, but for any moment when you can't speak for yourself. Please indicate whether each is in place.

A Will

General Durable Power of Attorney

Health Care Power of Attorney

HIPAA Authorization

Living Will and Care Directives

Dependents, Children & Trust Planning

Not Started

Do you have children or others who depend on you?

Do you have legal documents in place, including guardianship designations, for who will care for your children if you become incapacitated or pass away?

Do you have a Revocable Trust in place?

Are your trustees current and up-to-date?

Are assets titled into the trust as planned?

Do you have a pour-over will to capture any assets not yet in the trust?

Probate & Privacy

Not Started

Probate is the court-supervised process of validating your will and distributing your assets after you pass. It can be time-consuming, costly, and, because court records are public, it makes the details of your estate available to anyone. A well-structured plan can allow your assets to pass directly to your loved ones, privately and without court involvement.

Would you prefer your assets to transfer privately, without court involvement, avoiding probate and keeping your estate out of the public record?

The "First 48 Hours" Test

Not Started

Check each item that you, or a trusted person in an emergency, could immediately locate and access right now.

Bank account numbers and contact information

Investment account logins

Life insurance policies

Password manager or master access to digital accounts

Contact information for short-term and long-term guardians (if you have children)

Plans for the care of pets

Emergency Document Access

Not Started

If you were in an accident today and taken to an emergency room, would your emergency contacts and medical team have immediate access to the following?

Durable Power of Attorney

Health Care Power of Attorney

HIPAA Authorization

Living Will and Care Directives

International Travel & Work

Not Started

Do you travel or work internationally?

Do you have health insurance that covers you outside the United States?

Do you have medical evacuation insurance?

Are you enrolled in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) through the U.S. State Department?

STEP allows the U.S. Embassy to contact you in an emergency and helps your family locate you abroad.

Is your Durable Power of Attorney current and easily located while you are traveling?

Is your Health Care Power of Attorney current and easily located while you are traveling?

Are your HIPAA Authorizations current and easily located while you are traveling?

Is your Living Will and Care Directive current and readily available while you are traveling?

Business Ownership & Succession

Not Started

Do you own a business or hold an ownership interest in a privately held company?

Buy-Sell Agreement

Governs what happens to your ownership interest if you die, become incapacitated, or a co-owner wants to exit.

Key Person Insurance

Life or disability insurance protecting the business and your family if a key person is lost.

Business Interest Integrated with Estate Plan

Is your business interest held through a trust or LLC in a way that avoids probate and ensures a smooth transition?

Intellectual Property Rights

Are your IP rights, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, or proprietary processes, clearly owned, documented, and protected?

Founder, Equity & Exit Planning

Not Started

Do you hold equity in a startup or private company (founder shares, options, RSUs, or an early investment) or do you expect a future liquidity event?

This section is for founders, early employees, and investors. For a potential future sale of equity, a sale, acquisition, or IPO, planning is generally most useful when it begins well before any transaction.

Do you anticipate a potential liquidity event, a sale, acquisition, IPO, or secondary, within roughly the next one to five years?

Planning windows tend to be widest before a transaction and narrow once one is underway.

Could any of your shares qualify as Qualified Small Business Stock (QSBS) under IRC §1202?

Section 1202 can allow eligible founders, employees, and investors to exclude a portion of the gain on a future sale from federal capital gains tax. Eligibility depends on facts set when the stock was issued.

Have you explored whether non-grantor trusts could expand the §1202 gain you may be able to exclude (sometimes called “stacking”)?

A properly designed non-grantor trust is generally treated as its own taxpayer, with its own exclusion.

Have you considered moving appreciating equity into an irrevocable or spousal-access trust to help reduce future estate and income tax while keeping a measure of household access?

Structures such as a Spousal Lifetime Access Non-Grantor Trust (SLANT) are designed to combine asset protection with estate- and income-tax planning.

Is the intellectual property behind your company's value (patents, trademarks, source code, trade secrets) fully assigned to and owned by the company, with nothing left personally held or owed by former contractors?

Clear IP ownership is generally easier to confirm before a sale process than during one.

If something happened to you before an exit, is it clear who would manage and vote your equity, and who would ultimately benefit from a future sale?

A liquidity event can take years to arrive. Planning ensures your interest is governed and directed the way you intend in the meantime.

Estate Size

Not Started

Include real property, retirement accounts, life insurance proceeds, business interests, and other assets in your estimate. Most people underestimate by forgetting life insurance and retirement balances. A rough figure is all you need here.

Approximately how large is your estate?

Results appear on this page. No data is sent or stored.

Your Estate Plan Summary

Prepared by Vickery Law PLLC's self-assessment tool · For informational purposes only. This summary highlights general areas you may wish to review. It does not evaluate whether your existing documents are valid, current, or adequate.

Readiness

Ready to talk through these areas? Vickery Law PLLC is licensed in Maryland, the District of Columbia, and Washington State, and works with families to put the right documents and structures in place, from foundational documents to more complex trust planning.

Please do not send confidential details about your situation. Until we have run a conflicts check and you have a signed engagement letter, information you send is not protected as a client confidence.

Schedule a Consultation

Once you download or leave this page, your responses are permanently cleared. This summary does not constitute legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Estate planning laws vary by jurisdiction, and this tool is not jurisdiction-specific legal advice.

Finished the Check-Up? Let's talk it through.

A 30-minute consultation to go over what the Check-Up found and what, if anything, needs doing.

Schedule a 30-minute consultation Send a meeting request