It is not enough to get an estate plan once and leave it alone for all time. It needs to be constantly reviewed and updated to take account of changing circumstances.
Some people can get away with getting an estate plan once and never looking at it again. If someone never gets divorced, remarried, has more children or increases assets, then the first estate plan they get might be good enough for the rest of their lives.
This is true, even if that estate plan was written 50 years before the person passes away.
However, most people’s lives are not that constant.
In fact, most people have significant changes in their lives as they get older.
When things change, then estate plans normally need to be changed as well, as Forbes discusses in “Why Continuous Estate Planning Is Essential For the Rich and Super-Rich.”
The more wealth that you have, the more often you will probably need to change your estate plan.
This is because your assets will grow, how you hold those assets will change and tax laws will also change.
Nevertheless, it is not just the wealthy who need to constantly review and update their estate plans.
Everyone should do so, whenever there is a significant change in their lives that should be reflected in an estate plan.
Examples of these changes include divorce, remarriage, a new child, a new higher paying job, a new grandchild and much more.
If you have not changed your estate plan recently, then take a look at it.
Ask yourself whether it still does what you want it to do, given all the changes in your life.
If the answer is no or even maybe not, then talk to an estate planning attorney.
Reference: Forbes (Sep. 6, 2017) “Why Continuous Estate Planning Is Essential For the Rich and Super-Rich.”
