
An estate plan is not necessarily something you can create and then forget. When your life undergoes a significant change, you likely need to review your estate plan. We have found that you should review your estate plan if one of the following applies:
- Marriage. You will likely want to ensure that your spouse is included in your plan. If it is a second marriage and either spouse has children from a prior marriage, both spouses may wish to provide for his/her children along with the new spouse.
- The birth or adoption of children. You should consider who should be the guardian of the children if both mother and father are deceased. Children are, legally, adults at age 18; however, you may wish to consider alternatives if you don’t want your children to inherit at age 18.
- Divorce. If you divorce, you may wish to remove your former spouse from your estate plan, as well as retirement assets, pensions and life insurance policies.
- Inheritance. If you receive an inheritance, you should review how such inheritance impacts your present estate plan.
- Death of your spouse. You should consider who should be the guardian of your minor children and who should manage your minor children’s inheritance upon your death.
- Death of a named beneficiary or named executor of your estate. This includes named powers of attorney, designated appointment of health care representatives, co-owners of any asset and beneficiaries of retirement assets or life insurance.
- Change of wishes. The estate plan today may not reflect what you want in the future. If you have had a change of heart regarding how you want your estate distributed or how the estate is handled, you should insure that your wishes are properly documented in a new estate plan.