REVIEWING AND UPDATING YOUR ESTATE PLAN - Just As Important As Drafting
Estate Planning is an often complex, and even complicated, process that is much more than just signing documents. A successful estate plan is not just that set of signed documents you sit in a corner and let collect dust until the time comes to implement it. A successful estate plan requires a deep and intimate understanding of not just your assets and debts, but your entire financial picture, your family’s individual dynamics, and your personal goals for your legacy and keeping that information current and up-to-date. It is important your Estate Planning Attorney takes the time to get to know not just your stuff or your family, but you! What are your goals? What do you want to leave behind as your legacy? (Again, not just your stuff.) After your plan is prepared, it is important that you, in conjunction with your advisors and Estate Planning Attorney, review your plan and make any necessary updates to the plan documents and to your asset and access lists.
If you have already signed your Estate Plan, you may think, “Great! That’s off my to-do list now.” However, your legacy doesn’t end with signing these documents, and neither does your estate plan. It is important that you review your estate plan, at a minimum, every three years, though, we recommend an annual review. A helpful tip we give our clients is to schedule the review around a date you’re not going to easily forget such as a birthday or anniversary.
Why would you need to review your Estate Plan so frequently? Things happen. People pass away. Relationships become strained. People get married, divorced, and move. Assets increase and decrease. Laws change. Our goals and wishes change. A consistent and diligent review of your estate plan ensures the Estate Plan you pass away with is congruent with your most up-to-date circumstances and not any circumstances you may have created the plan under years ago.
What should you verify or review to make sure your Estate Plan is as up-to-date as possible?
Financial Accounts: You should keep an updated inventory of your financial accounts and review any beneficiary designations, whether that is a Trust or an individual. As banking institutions continue to move towards paperless banking, it is becoming more and more difficult for family members and Trustees to locate the information they need to access these assets.
Online Accounts: Keep an updated list of your online accounts, usernames, and passwords. This includes any log-in information for insurance policies, brokerage accounts, bills, health records, etc. You never know what your Executor or Trustee will need to access in order to handle your final affairs. It is best to keep an up-to-date list of everything each year. There are a number of third-party services online that can assist with this, however, we do recommend keeping an updated hard copy in your Estate Plan Binder or Folder.
Advisors: Just as you should keep an updated list of your financial accounts and online accounts, you should also keep an updated list of any advisors or important contacts for your assets, debts, and estate plan in general. This advisor list should include: your estate planning attorney, any other attorneys, financial advisor, CPA, accountant, insurance agent(s), banker(s) and lender(s), and funeral home director. Having this list will afford your loved ones with the ability to contact those individuals who are best equipped to assist them in arranging and managing your final affairs and wishes.
Family Dynamics: The dynamics of a family can change dramatically in a short period of time. People are born, get married, divorced, pass away, move, go through their own personal struggles. Any of these changes may necessitate a need for a change in your estate plan. At a minimum, it will likely necessitate an update.
Document Review: As part of your review process, you should read through your documents and refresh your memory of what your documents say. Make sure their purposes and what they say still align with your goals and wishes. In many cases, during this review, clients will find that provisions they once included no longer apply (such as provisions for a guardianship of a minor child) and may need to be removed. Furthermore, those individuals that were named as Agents in Living Wills, Advanced Directives, Powers of Attorney, Executors, or even Trustees may need to be replaced with new individuals.
Changes in Health: While aging is a natural and inevitable part of life, the process is often joined by changes in health that may require a change in your estate plan to accomplish new goals, such as medicaid or elder care planning.
You deserve the input from a qualified and experienced estate planning attorney who will guide and advise you through this complex and detail-oriented area of the law. Whether you’re needing assistance with reviewing your current estate plan or establishing a new plan, Your Hometown Attorney is here to guide you and provide you and your family with the peace of mind and legacy protection you deserve.
Interested in learning more? Call us at 706-359-3332! You can also e-mail us at frontdesk@turnerjoneslegal.com.
