• Discuss your estate plans with a lawyer.Jupiterimages/Comstock/Getty Images
  
  If you're fortunate, you'll accumulate enough wealth in your lifetime that you'll need to make arrangements for what will be done with your money after you're gone. There are a variety of options to be considered, and choosing the best one for you will require that you weigh your circumstances, goals and values. For the sake of your loved ones and those you are responsible for, it is important that you plan your estate carefully.
  
  

Will

• Establishing a notarized and witnessed will is the first and most important step in estate planning. This document makes your wishes clear when you cannot do so yourself. In order to limit any disputes that may arise after you die, discuss with the people named in your will exactly what you plan to leave to whom.
  
  

Taking Inventory

• It is essential that you take a detailed inventory of all your assets, including but not limited to real estate and insurance policies. Evaluating your real worth may not be as simple as it seems, as there are many sources of wealth that can be overlooked or incorrectly valued. In addition to creating a will, decide who will have power of attorney should you ever be incapacitated.
  
  

Trusts

• Establishing a trust, which distributes money to your heirs under certain conditions, is one way to ensure your wealth is managed according to your wishes after you die. Once mainly a tool of the very rich, trusts are becoming more common, as they allow for the management of money in such a way that incurs the least tax burden. The federal estate tax must be taken into account when planning a trust.