Creating an estate plan isn’t likely on your list of the most fun things you want to do in your life. It’s still important to ensure that it’s done so that your loved ones know your wishes when you pass away. Once you have the plan done, you shouldn’t just forget about it. Instead, you’ll need to ensure that it remains current.
There are several life events that can occur that signal the need to update your estate plan. Any of these means that you need to take a look at the plan to determine what modifications or updates must be made. It’s a good idea to try to get the estate plan updated as quickly as possible since you never know if something is going to happen that will incapacitate you and render you unable to make the changes.
- You get married or divorced.
- You adopt or have a child.
- Your children become adults.
- You have grandchildren.
- You gain or lose assets.
- You decide you want to support a charity.
- The law changes.
- You move to a new state.
- Someone named in your estate plan passes away.
- You want to change your executor or a trustee.
- Your end-of-life wishes change.
- You decide to remove or add a beneficiary.
Even if you don’t have any of those occur, you should still review the plan if it’s been more than three years since you created it. Your attorney can help you ensure that the plan you have accurately reflects your wishes and can work with you if there are things that need to be changed it.