When to Update Your Will and Related Powers of Attorney
As estate planning attorneys often tell clients, your estate plan is not “set it and forget it.” It reflects your assets, goals, and needs at the time you create it. But let’s face it: life changes. We marry and divorce. Family members are born; others die. Children grow up and become independent. Parents may decline and become unable to care for themselves. People move from state to state, and buy and sell property.
It is for those reasons that estate planners counsel their clients to review, and if necessary, update, their estate plan on a regular basis. If you have an existing estate plan, you should review it every three to five years, or more often if you have undergone a significant life change like marriage, the birth of a child, the death of a spouse, or divorce.
But major life milestones aren’t the only time you may need to reconsider your estate plan, which includes not only your will or trust but your powers of attorney and medical advance directives. Some events that are less life-changing can still call for a change in your planning documents.
Events that Should Prompt an Estate Plan Update
Aside from marriages and divorces, births and deaths, here are some life events that should make you consider changing your estate plan:
Name Changes
If you have changed your name for any reason, you should update your estate plan to avoid confusion about whether the existing documents actually apply to you. Similarly, if one of your heirs or beneficiaries has changed their name, you may want to update your estate plan and beneficiary designations on life insurance and retirement accounts
Geographic Move
If you move away from the state or country in which your estate plan was created, you may want to update your plan in your new place of residence, which may have different laws. At a minimum, contact an attorney in your new state or country to review your existing plan.
Changes in Your Assets
If you have transferred away an asset that you specifically left to a beneficiary in your existing estate plan, or acquired a new asset that you want to go to a particular person, you should update your estate plan. Similarly, the value of assets you own may have shifted, meaning that the value of certain bequests may have changed in a way you did not intend.
Relationship Changes
When you created your estate plan, it was based on the relationship you had with certain people at the time, but those relationships may have changed. For example, you may have named your brother the executor of your will, but he is now exhibiting signs of dementia. You might have left your mother’s heirloom jewelry to your daughter-in-law, but she is now divorced from your son. Make sure that the bequests in your estate plan reflect your current wishes, and that the people who would have responsibility in managing your estate are still capable and trusted.
Health Changes
If you or one of your heirs experience a significant health event, that should prompt you to reconsider your estate plan. You may want to update your plan to accommodate the possible need for future care, including Medicaid planning or creating a special needs trust.
There are other circumstances that may prompt you to take a look at whether your estate plan still meets your current needs, such as the purchase or sale of a business, or even a change in tax laws.
What Does it Mean to Review Your Estate Plan?
The review of your estate plan can be very informal: take it out, look at it at home, and make sure that you’re still satisfied with everything in it. If something has changed, or if you’re not sure that a minor life change requires an update to your documents, call your attorney.
Your attorney can advise you whether a change in circumstances requires a complete revision of your document, or perhaps a minor update such as adding a codicil to a will. It may be that no change is needed at all, but you will feel better if your attorney confirms that (rather than just hoping that is the case).
To learn more about when you should update your will and powers of attorney, or to get an opinion on whether your existing documents will achieve your current goals, contact the Law Offices of Dana M. Kyle, P.A. to schedule a consultation.
