9 vital money questions for Mom and Dad

You don't need to analyze your parents' financial status down to the last nickel and dime, but you do need to cover the basics and make sure there are no surprises in their financial future -- or yours. Here, the nine most important money questions you need to ask Mom and Dad:

• How much money do they have -- in cash and investments -- and how much income do they expect to have at retirement (including Social Security)? Do they think they will need your support, and if so, how much?

• What types of insurance do they have? Do they have adequate medical coverage and a plan for long-term care?

• Do they have any special concerns? Financial planner Ilyce Glink says a 69-year-old client came to her worried that she might outlive her own savings. "She won't," says Glink, "but many older parents are finding themselves in the situation where they are living longer than they'd planned, so it's worth asking."

• A complete list of all your parents' accounts, passwords, financial institutions, and the phone numbers of the advisors, brokers, accountants and lawyers who have assisted them.

• The location of any estate-planning documents, their safety deposit box (and the key!), and where they keep the original signed copy of their will.

• Make sure your parents have an up-to-date will. Planners say they can't stress this enough. "I think it's irresponsible to die without a will," says Violet Woodhouse. Even if your parents have no estate to speak of, Woodhouse says, they need a will. "The worst family fights I've seen are over the trinkets," she says.

• Are the beneficiaries of their life insurance policies, 401(k) plans, etc. as they want them to be?

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• Make sure your parents have signed a power of attorney and a health care directive in case they become incapacitated, says estate-planning lawyer Elizabeth McKenna. "In a crisis, people need to know what to do."

• Explain to your folks that it's important to assess their estate now so they can project whether the estate is likely to owe taxes. "If they do," says McKenna, "there are some devices that will protect their estate, and it would be wise to look into them."

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