If you’re making an estate plan and never review it, there’s no telling how accurate it’s going to be. You may believe that writing a will means your family has the guidance they need when you pass away, but it’s not necessarily helpful if all the documentation is significantly outdated.
One tactic to get around this, of course, is just to conduct annual reviews. If you look over your estate plan once a year, you know that it will always be no more than a few months out of date. Ideally, this will avoid most major complications. But is there another way to conduct your review and make these updates?
Changes in your life
The other strategy is just to consider significant changes in your life that may mean it’s time to change your estate plan.
For example, maybe you got married after writing your will. You may want to add your new spouse to the estate plan, as they may be named in important documentation like a trust or power of attorney.
On the other hand, maybe your own adult children are married and they’ve just had their own children. You now have grandchildren and extended family members that you may want to include in your estate plan. You need to add new beneficiaries compared to when you initially drafted that plan.
Furthermore, you naturally need to consider your own assets and how they can change. Many people will sell a family home or sell a business, while others will buy a vacation property. Anytime you see major changes to your assets, you want those to be reflected in your estate plan.
As you can see, conducting periodic reviews is very important. You also need to know what steps to take to update your plan when necessary.
