Summary: The new year often brings with it new resolutions. If you have
an estate plan, resolve to have your plan undergo a checkup and ensure that all
of the pieces that work together to comprise your total estate plan are
up-to-date and consistent with your current wishes. Whether you've experienced
deaths, births, divorces, marriages or other events, a life event can change
your circumstances and may mean making alterations to your plan is in order.
Simply checking up on your will and trust is not enough; you should also make sure
that your powers of attorney, living will and non-probate accounts are also
current with your existing estate planning goals.
As
December draws to close, and the calendar turns to January, many people
starting looking forward to the start of a new year. With the start of the new
year will come new resolutions for many. If you haven't created an estate plan,
you should resolve to do so. If you have, make getting an estate plan review
one of your resolutions.
Making
sure that the plan you have in place is completely up-to-date entails many
things. One place to start is to ask yourself if you've experienced any
important life events in the past year (or whatever length of time since your
plan last underwent a checkup.) Have there been any deaths among your loved
ones? New births? What about marriages... or divorces? Depending on how you've
structured you plan, any of these events could impact you. Perhaps a new birth
means making a change to ensure that your newest loved one is included in your
plan, or a death means making alterations to your plan to redirect that
deceased loved one's distribution.
One
of the more common triggers is a divorce. A divorce has the potential to
require a plan change for various reasons. The most obvious, of course, is if
you desire to amend your plan to ensure that this person, post-divorce,
receives nothing from your assets. However, in some situations, a former spouse
(of yours or of a loved one) may remain an important and cherished part of your
life even after the divorce. Should you still intend to include this person in
your plan, a plan review is appropriate in this case, as well. This person
likely has no legal relationship to you now, and it is important to make
certain that your plan spells out your intentions and objectives regarding this
person clearly and expressly.
Making
sure that your plan is up to date involves more than just checking your will or
living trust. A death may impact the your powers of attorney if the departed
was one the agents you named under those documents. Altering or replacing these
documents to ensure that you still have an ample number of agents and backup
agents can ensure that these powers will work the way you want should they be
needed.
Furthermore,
remember that your estate plan extends beyond just your will, trusts, powers of
attorney and living will. If you have assets that are transfer-on-death,
pay-on-death or any kind of structure that has a death beneficiary designation,
these assets need a checkup, too. Regardless of how your will or living trust
is designed, or how up-to-date those documents are, accounts like your
retirement accounts or your insurance policies will generally be distributed
according to their own beneficiary designation forms, not your will or trust.
Checking up on these accounts is particularly important if you've experienced a
divorce (to make sure you're not unintentionally leaving assets to your
"ex".) It is also vital if you've experienced a death among your loved
ones. If your death beneficiary predeceases you, and you do not fill out a new
beneficiary designation form, that asset will likely end up in your probate
estate, and could be distributed in a way far from what you intended.
This article is published by the Legacy Assurance Plan
and is intended for general informational purposes only. Some information may
not apply to your situation. It does not, nor is it intended, to constitute
legal advice. You should consult with an attorney regarding any specific
questions about probate, living probate or other estate planning matters.
Legacy Assurance Plan is an estate planning services-company and is not a
lawyer or law firm and is not engaged in the practice of law. For more
information about this and other estate planning matters visit our website at http://www.legacyassuranceplan.com.
This article written and published by:
8039 Cooper Creek Blvd
University Park, Florida 34201
844.306.5272 (Phone)
info@legacyassuranceplan.com (email)
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