Estate planning is an ongoing process, and an estate plan review should be done every few years to ensure that your unique goals and needs are still being met. As I’ve mentioned before, your planning should never be merely a set of documents you execute once, stick on a shelf, and never look at again. When reviewing your estate plan, keep these things in mind:
- Consider whether you have acquired new assets (or sold assets) since you made your estate plan. In order to be effective, your estate plan must accurately reflect all of the assets in your estate. And, if you used a trust as your estate plan, make sure that all of your assets are titled in the name of the trust.
- Determine if the terms of your estate plan still meet your objectives. Think about whether the beneficiaries and bequests of your plan are still what you want. If you had a falling out with someone you originally listed as a beneficiary, or if you believe that your now adult child is responsible enough to receive a larger portion of your estate with less restriction, you should modify your estate plan to reflect these changes. Moreover, make sure that you leave your assets to your beneficiaries in a lifetime asset protection trust to safeguard the assets from a beneficiary’s future divorce, creditors or lawsuits.
- Reflect on whether those named as guardians for your children are still the right people for the job. Guardians for your children should be people you trust to raise your children with your values. Be sure to execute guardianship paperwork (which includes appointment of short- and long-term guardians), provide instructions and guidelines for those guardians, and execute medical powers of attorney that allow you to dictate medical care for your minor children if they are ever injured when you are not with them.
- Similarly, reflect on whether the individual you appointed as your health care agent is still right for that role. Check to see that all of the proper documents have been executed, including a Medical Power of Attorney and a HIPAA authorization. These documents allow your elected agents to receive your health care information and make health care decisions for you if you ever become incapacitated.
- Confirm that all beneficiary designations for your retirement plans, insurance policies and financial accounts are correct. Never name a minor as the beneficiary (or contingent beneficiary) of an insurance policy or retirement account.
- Ensure that your estate plan fully takes advantage of all applicable tax laws. For example, keep in mind that you can make a maximum gift of $14,000 to individuals. Alternatively, if you have already used a majority of your federal gift tax exemption, you can consider other strategies to move taxable assets out of your estate. You should also take advantage of the generation-skipping transfer tax.
- Verify that all of the people with relevant roles in your estate plan are informed as to their responsibilities. The guardians appointed to care for your children, your health care agents, the executor or trustee of your estate plan, and your beneficiaries, should all have access to the paperwork they would need if something ever happened to you.
The importance of reviewing your estate plan every few years cannot be overemphasized. The best way to do this is to develop a continuing relationship with your estate planning attorney. At Snyder Law, PC, we pride ourselves on being our clients’ trusted advisors for life. Our goal is for our clients to rest easy knowing we are by their side now and in the future, which is why we offer our clients complimentary estate planning reviews every three years. If you have undergone a recent life event or have not reviewed your estate planning recently, contact us today to experience the Snyder Law difference.
