Resources · New Mexico

What information should I gather before meeting an estate-planning attorney?

Most people arrive at a first estate-planning conversation thinking they are unprepared. Usually they are not. You do not need a complete inventory, organized files, or decisions already made. What helps most is having thought about a handful of questions, and those questions are less about property than people expect.

This article describes general preparation for estate planning in New Mexico. It is not legal advice about your situation.

Start with people, not property

The hardest parts of an estate plan are rarely the numbers. They are the choices about who does what.

Before a first meeting, it helps to have thought about:

• Who would you trust to carry out your wishes after your death? In New Mexico this person is called a personal representative — the role many people know as an executor.
• Who would you trust to manage money and property if you could not? A financial power of attorney names that person. Under New Mexico law such a document continues to work even if you later become unable to manage your own affairs, unless it expressly says otherwise.
• Who would you trust to make health-care decisions if you could not speak for yourself? New Mexico law lets you name that person and give instructions about your own care.
• Is there anyone who depends on you? Minor children, an adult child who needs ongoing support, an aging parent.

You do not need final answers. Having a first and second choice in mind for each role, and knowing which ones you feel uncertain about, is enough to make the conversation productive.

A general picture of what you own

A rough outline is more useful than precision at this stage. Think in categories rather than balances:

• A home or other real property, and roughly how it is titled
• Bank and investment accounts, in general terms
• Retirement accounts and life insurance
• A business interest, if you have one
• Vehicles, and anything of significant value
• Anything you own in another state

Do not gather account numbers, balances, or statements for a first conversation. They are not needed to discuss whether the firm can help, and a first message is not a secure place for them.

One detail that matters more than people expect: whether property is separate or community. New Mexico is a community-property state, and how property is characterized affects what can be done with it. If you were married when you acquired something, or you brought property into a marriage, it is worth noting.

Whether anything already names a beneficiary

Some things pass to a named person automatically, outside of a will. Retirement accounts, life insurance, and some bank accounts commonly work this way.

It is worth checking whether you have named anyone on those accounts, and whether the names are still the ones you would choose. Plans are often undone not by a badly drafted will but by a beneficiary designation nobody revisited after a marriage, a divorce, or a death.

Existing documents

If you already have any of the following, note that they exist and roughly when they were signed:

• A will, from New Mexico or another state
• A trust
• A power of attorney
• An advance health-care directive
• A divorce decree or marital property agreement
• A prenuptial or postnuptial agreement

You do not need to send copies before the firm has agreed to represent you. Knowing what exists is enough to begin.

What you are actually worried about

This is the most useful thing you can bring, and the easiest to leave out.

People come to estate planning for concrete reasons: a diagnosis, a new child, a second marriage, a family member who cannot manage money, a parent who is declining, property in another state, or simply the sense that it has been put off long enough. Sometimes the concern is a relationship rather than an asset.

Saying plainly what prompted you helps more than a tidy list of accounts. It often changes what the right plan looks like.

What not to send in a first message

Contacting a firm does not create an attorney-client relationship, and a first email is not protected the way a conversation with your own attorney is. Until the firm has agreed to represent you, keep the initial message brief and general.

Leave out Social Security numbers, complete birth dates, account numbers, passwords, medical records, tax returns, and detailed information about other people. Amanda will say what is needed and how to provide it.

Estate Law NM’s Before You Make Contact page sets this out in more detail.

What a first conversation is for

A first exchange is mostly about fit. It covers what you are trying to accomplish, whether the matter is within the firm’s services, and what the next step would be. It is not the meeting where documents get drafted, and you will not be asked to decide anything on the spot.

If it turns out the firm is not the right fit, that is a useful outcome too.

A reasonable next step

If you have thought through the questions above — even roughly, even with uncertainty — you have enough to begin. You can contact Amanda by email, or read more about how the process works first.

This article is general information about estate planning in New Mexico. It is not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.