Free tool
End-of-life planning checklist
Getting your affairs in order looks like a wall until you break it into a list. Tick the situations that describe your life and get a tailored, printable checklist of the documents, accounts, and decisions to put in place, for yourself or an aging parent. No account, no email, free. For the why behind each document, read the estate planning documents checklist.
Step 1
Which of these describe your life?
Tick everything that applies. The list starts with the essentials everyone needs and grows with your situation, and links each named record to a plain explainer. Leave the rest unchecked.
15 items on your list
End-of-Life Planning Checklist
Made with Granite, an AI document vault. granite.co
Core legal documents
Medical & care wishes
Final wishes
Money & accounts
Identity & vital records
Put it where it can be found
This checklist is a starting point, not legal or medical advice. Estate and end-of-life rules vary by state, so check with an attorney about your situation. Granite organizes and stores your documents; it doesn't draft wills or give legal advice.
How it works
Turn the overwhelming into a list
No software, no account. The list starts with the essentials everyone needs and grows with whatever your situation actually calls for.
- 1
Tick your situations
A home, a partner, young children, a business, retirement accounts, pets, specific medical or funeral wishes. Tick everything that describes your life.
- 2
Get your tailored list
The checklist assembles itself as you go, grouped by category, with each named record linked to a plain explainer so you know what you're looking for.
- 3
Print it or copy it, then work through it
Print the list or copy it to text, then tick each document and decision as you put it in place. When nothing's left unchecked, your affairs are in order.
Why it’s different
A plan no one can find isn’t a plan
Most “end-of-life checklist” pages hand you one giant static list, the same forms for a single renter and a married homeowner with three kids and a business. You end up guessing which rows are yours.
This tool works the other way around. It starts with the documents everyone needs and adds the rest only when you tell it the situation that calls for them. Homeowners see the deed and the mortgage; parents see the guardianship line; anyone with a digital life leaves a way in. Nothing is uploaded and nothing is stored, so it’s safe to use with your real situation, then printed and kept.
The hardest part of any plan is the last step: making sure the right person can actually find it. A will in a drawer no one knows about helps no one. That’s the part Granite is built for: drop each document in and it’s read and filed automatically, then an emergency contact you name can reach it when the time comes.
Questions
End-of-life planning, answered
- What documents do I need for end-of-life planning?
- At minimum, four legal documents: a last will and testament, a financial power of attorney, a healthcare power of attorney, and an advance directive (living will). From there it depends on your life: a homeowner adds the deed and the mortgage; a parent of young kids names a guardian; a business owner adds a succession plan; anyone with online accounts leaves a way in. Tick your situations above and the tool builds the exact list for you.
- What's the difference between a will and an advance directive?
- A will says who gets your property and who carries out your wishes after you die. An advance directive (also called a living will) says what medical care you do and don't want while you're still alive but can't speak for yourself, and a healthcare power of attorney names the person who decides on your behalf. You want all three: most people only have the will and assume it covers the rest.
- Is this the same as what to do after someone dies?
- No, and that's the point. This tool is for planning ahead, getting your own affairs in order, or helping an aging parent do theirs, so nothing has to be hunted for later. If you've recently lost someone and need the steps and paperwork from the other side, read our companion checklist for what to do when someone dies.
- How do I make sure my family can actually find everything?
- This is the step most plans skip. A will in a drawer no one knows about helps no one. Keep the documents in one place, write a single 'where everything is' letter that points to all of it, and tell your executor and one trusted person where to look. That's exactly what Granite is built for: one vault that holds the documents, with an emergency contact who can reach them when the time comes.
- Do you store anything I enter?
- No. Nothing is uploaded and nothing is saved. The whole tool runs in your browser, there's no account and no email, and the checklist disappears when you close the tab. Copy it to text or print it before you go.
- Is it really free?
- Yes. No account, no email, no watermark. It's a free tool from Granite, an AI document vault that reads and files the documents you drop into it, and keeps them findable for the people who'll need them.
Keep exploring
Related from Granite
- Estate planning documents checklistThe plain-English companion read: what each of these documents is, what it does, and which ones you actually need.
- What to do when someone diesThe other side of this checklist: the steps and the paperwork a family faces once the plan is needed.
- How to build a family emergency binderWhere this list should live: the single binder that says where everything is, who to call, and what to do.
- Granite for familiesOne place for the paperwork that runs, and outlives, a household, with continuity built in.
A plan is only as good as where it lives
Gathering the documents is half the work. Granite is the other half: drop in the will, the policies, and the deeds and each one is read, filed, and kept findable, with an emergency contact who can reach them when the time comes. Free for your first 25 documents.