The new year comes with a chance to make a symbolic fresh start in various areas of life. For adults, one of these should be ensuring that their estate plan is set up and current. Anyone who doesn’t have one should take the time to make one.
If you’re one of the adults who already has an estate plan in place, now is the time for you to review it to ensure that it fully meets your current wishes. It’s especially important for you to do this if you’ve had any major changes in your life since the last time you looked at it.
Reasons to review your estate plan
There are many life events that trigger the need to check your estate plan. This includes changes in family dynamics, such as marriages, divorces, births, deaths and adoptions. Changes in finances, such as selling or purchasing assets, will also mean you need to review your estate plan. This is also a good opportunity to ensure that your estate plan takes the most current tax and estate planning laws into account.
Review the entire plan
When you review the estate plan, you can’t just glance over it. Instead, consider each component individually and then look at how it will work as a whole. As you’re going over everything, make sure that beneficiaries’ names are spelled correctly. Check your power of attorney designations and the estate administrator to ensure you will want those individuals in those positions. If you have children, double-check guardianship information.
Ensuring that you have a comprehensive estate plan in place is important because it provides your loved ones with guidance after you pass away. Working with someone who can assist with setting up the plan can help give you peace of mind.
This publication is provided only for educational purposes; it should not be relied upon as legal advice, and it should not be used, in whole or in part, as a basis for engaging in estate planning or estate administration. Every reader’s circumstance is unique, and legal advice should be obtained only from a lawyer with whom the reader has established an attorney-client relationship.
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