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Keeping your estate plan current is essential to ensure your wishes are respected and your loved ones are protected. Here are some key life events that require an immediate update to your estate plan. |
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MARRIAGE Update emergency contacts and beneficiary designations for your life insurance and retirement accounts. Ensure you have the right tools to transfer your money and property to your spouse according to your wishes after you die. DIVORCE Update beneficiary designations on insurance policies and retirement accounts once the divorce has been finalized. Revise powers of attorney, advance directives or living wills, and HIPAA authorizations. Ensure your will and trust reflect your new wishes and comply with any divorce decrees. SIGNIFICANT CHANGE IN WHAT YOU OWN Review your plan after your salary increases, you receive an inheritance, or you make a large purchase. Address potential issues or needed changes regarding who will inherit what you own. BIRTH OR ADOPTION OF CHILDREN Add new children as beneficiaries to your will and trust. Adjust distribution instructions as children grow to ensure each beneficiary gets what they need in the manner that best suits them. DEATH OF A LOVED ONE Update guardians, executors, successor trustees, and agents under financial and medical powers of attorney if necessary. Update inheritance distribution provisions if your loved one was a beneficiary of your will or trust. MOVE TO A NEW STATE OR COUNTRY Ensure your documents comply with local laws by meeting with a local attorney. If necessary, have new estate planning documents created to comply with the laws of your new state or country. LIFE IS FULL OF CHANGES, AND YOUR ESTATE PLAN SHOULD EVOLVE WITH THEM. Stay protected and ensure your wishes are honored by meeting with a qualified estate planning attorney.
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