If you've worked hard all of your life and accumulated a lifetime of memories and possessions, you will probably want to give some thought to whom those cherished belongings should go to after your death. Now, we know death is not a subject anyone particularly wants to think about or talk about. But there's no way to avoid it, so let's just deal with it right now

If you don't have estate documents, like a will or living trust, the state decides who gets your assets. If you go to your state's web site, you should be able to see how it distributes property

We bet most of you would rather have some input into that decision. If your estate is complicated, please don't try to create an estate plan yourself. Go to an attorney who specializes in real estate advisory. (You don't want to leave it in the hands of an attorney who does many types of law.) One place to look for an estate attorney is Lawyers.com. Choose "Estate Planning" as the type of lawyer (under "Trusts and Estates").

If you do have estate-planning documents but they are more than five years old, have an estate attorney review them. If you need to make changes, you may be able to amend your plan rather than start over with new documents

Many customers haven't created estate documents or updated existing ones because one just can't settle on the fact as to who will act on your behalf.

You want to find someone with similar values to be guardians to your kids. They shouldn't be too old or too young. For the trustee's role, you want to find someone savvy enough financially to manage your money. And you need to find someone who is willing to put in the time and effort to wind up your affairs in the executor role as part of the settling of your estate.

Don't think you'll find the perfect person. That's a sure way to procrastinate indefinitely. Get as close as you can in choosing the right person for each role. And remember, going forward you can always change who is listed in your documents if you find someone better suited to one of these jobs.

If you've gone to the trouble to put trust documents in place, don't fail to retitle your financial accounts and fund your trusts. All this boils down to is a flurry of paperwork. But if you don't do it, your carefully crafted estate plan may be a bust

If you haven't completed this paperwork yet, you'll need to change your individually held accounts to trust accounts. You will be the primary trustee in most cases until you can no longer manage your affairs.

If you have an irrevocable life insurance trust (ILIT), make sure the policy pays out to the trustee of your ILIT.

The "exemption equivalent credit" is a complicated-sounding term that just means you get to bequeath up to $2 million without paying estate tax. Even if you don't have $2 million, you can still use your exemption to pass whatever you do have to the people or organizations that mean the most to you--free of estate tax.

One of the biggest mistakes married people make is leaving all their possessions outright to their spouse. In so doing, each spouse isn't able to take full advantage of his or her exemption equivalent credit, and the full estate (of both spouses) will be taxed at the second death.

So how can married couples take full advantage of each partner's exemption equivalent credit? If your estate is more than $2 million, you need to consider a "credit equivalent trust" or "B trust." Each spouse would set up this type of trust, and each can fund it with up to $2 million. That amount would then qualify for the exemption equivalent credit and would not be subject to estate taxes. Income can be paid out to the surviving spouse, and principal can be tapped for certain purposes.

By setting up the credit equivalent trust, up to $4 million (using the credit for both spouses) is free from estate tax..

A lot of times, one spouse ends up with more of the financial goodies in his or her name. While that may boost an ego here or there, it's actually counterproductive when trying to pass the most assets you can to your heirs.

Here's why: If the couple didn't get the full benefit of both of their exemption equivalent credits, the second spouse may die with more than the $2 million allowed to pass estate-tax-free per person. The assets over $2 million and under $4 million could have been estate-tax-free if the couple had taken advantage of putting up to $2 million in each name.

Sometimes that may mean putting the house (typically one of the bigger assets) in the spouse's name with fewer assets. If the marriage is on sound footing, that works out just fine. But if you think there's a possibility of divorce, just remember you're giving up your ownership in the house.

While it may give you some satisfaction to know you control what happens with your assets after you've died, you don't necessarily want to spring this information on your family when the will is read. That often leads to big family fights over what each person thinks they "deserve."

A better approach is to talk to your family before you're gone. Let them know what you're planning to do and why. It may not be a particularly comfortable discussion, but at this point in your life you need to be able to speak your mind and live with other people's disapproval.

Have you ever had to dig through another person's paper archives for any reason? If so, you know it can be torture. Not to mention the fact that some of your assets may never be found because no one can find the life insurance policy or bank account records.You owe it to your family to be organized.

Lots of people don't realize that a will doesn't necessarily control all of their assets. For example, even if you have a will that leaves everything to your spouse, if you own real estate in joint tenancy with rights of survivorship (a very common way to hold property) with anyone other than your spouse, your spouse won't be entitled to it. Ditto for life-insurance policies that specify someone other than your spouse as beneficiary. I've seen this happen when people name a beneficiary for a retirement account or life insurance policy before they were married (or divorced) but then forget to change it.Whenever you update (or create) your estate documents, go through all your life insurance policies and work-related benefits, such as retirement plans and even stock options, to see if the people listed as beneficiaries are still who you would choose today.