You Already Have an Estate Plan. When Was the Last Time You Looked at It?

You did the responsible thing.  You met with an attorney, signed a Will, perhaps created a Trust, and executed a Power of Attorney, Health Care Proxy, Living Will, and maybe other estate planning documents.

Then you put everything somewhere safe and went back to living your life.

That may have been 5, 10, or even 20 years ago.

An estate plan is not something that should necessarily be signed once and forgotten.  Your family changes.  Your finances change.  Your relationships change.  The law changes.  A plan that made perfect sense when you signed it may no longer accomplish what you want today.

October is National Estate Planning Awareness Month, making it an ideal time to take another look at the estate plan you already have.

Has Your Family Changed?

Some of the most important reasons to review an estate plan have nothing to do with money.

Have you married or divorced?  Have your children married or divorced?  Have grandchildren been born?  Has someone named in your estate plan died?  Has a beneficiary developed special needs?  Has your relationship with a family member changed?

Your documents reflect your family as it existed when they were prepared.  Your estate plan should reflect your family as it exists today.

Even positive changes can create reasons to reconsider a plan.  A child who was young when your documents were prepared may now be a responsible adult whom you would choose to serve as Executor, Trustee, or agent.  Conversely, someone you selected years ago may no longer be the person you would trust with that responsibility.

Are the Right People Still in Charge?

Estate planning is not only about deciding who receives your property.  It is also about deciding who will act for you when you cannot act for yourself and who will administer your affairs after your death.

Look at the people named as your Executor, Trustee, agent under your Power of Attorney, and health care agent.

Are they still living?  Are they still capable of serving?  Do you still trust them?  Do they live close enough to perform the role effectively?  Are the successor appointments still appropriate?

Someone who was the obvious choice 15 years ago may not be the obvious choice today.

Have Your Assets Changed?

Perhaps your estate looked very different when your documents were signed.

You may have purchased or sold real estate, accumulated additional retirement assets, inherited property, opened new investment accounts, started or sold a business, purchased life insurance, or significantly increased or decreased your wealth.

These changes matter because your Will or Trust is only one part of your estate plan.

Retirement accounts, life insurance policies, payable-on-death accounts, transfer-on-death accounts, and jointly owned property may pass according to beneficiary designations or ownership arrangements rather than under your Will.

That means an estate plan can say one thing while your asset titling and beneficiary designations produce an entirely different result.

A periodic review allows you to determine whether the pieces still fit together.

Is Your Power of Attorney Still Appropriate?

People frequently focus on what happens after death and overlook an equally important question: What happens if I am alive but unable to manage my own affairs?

A comprehensive Power of Attorney can permit someone you trust to handle financial and legal matters if you become unable to do so yourself.

Older Powers of Attorney should be reviewed to determine whether they remain appropriate under current law and whether they provide the powers your agent may actually need.

This can become particularly important if long-term-care or Medicaid planning is ever necessary.  A Power of Attorney that does not provide sufficient authority can significantly limit the options available to your family precisely when flexibility is most important.

Have You Reviewed Your Health Care Documents?

Your Health Care Proxy and Living Will deserve the same attention.

Is the person you named as your health care agent still the person you want making medical decisions if you cannot make them yourself?  Have your views concerning treatment changed?  Does your family know whom you appointed and where the documents can be found?

A carefully drafted document is of little practical value if nobody knows it exists when an emergency occurs.

Does Your Plan Still Protect Your Beneficiaries?

Sometimes the question is not who should inherit, but how that person should inherit.

An outright inheritance may have seemed appropriate when your children were younger.  Today, you may be concerned about a child’s marriage, creditors, financial management, substance abuse, disability, or other circumstances.

Trust planning can sometimes provide protection and flexibility that an outright distribution cannot.

Similarly, the birth of grandchildren may cause you to reconsider what should happen if a child predeceases you or whether assets should remain protected for younger generations.

Do Not Wait for a Crisis

The worst time to discover a problem with an estate plan is when someone has died or lost capacity.

At that point, opportunities that once existed may be gone.

At the Law Offices of Jeffrey A. Asher, PC, we encourage clients to review their estate plans periodically and whenever a significant change occurs in their family, finances, health, or objectives.  Sometimes the review confirms that the existing plan continues to work exactly as intended.  Other times, relatively modest changes can prevent significant problems later.

During National Estate Planning Awareness Month, take out the documents you already have and ask one simple question:

If I were signing my estate plan today, would I still make the same choices?

If the answer is no, or even “I’m not sure,” it may be time for an estate planning review.