Your estate plan allows you to control who will manage your affairs when you can no longer handle them yourself and identifies who will receive your property upon your death. If you already have an estate plan — congratulations — you are among a minority of Americans. Over two-thirds of American adults don’t even have a basic estate plan. If you do have an estate plan, when was the last time you reviewed it? Does it still accurately reflect your wishes? And, perhaps most importantly, will it do its job when you need it most?
An estate plan is not something you “set and forget." It includes living documents that should be reviewed and updated to reflect changing circumstances, significant changes to your financial situation, and new legislation.
Our personal planning attorneys recommend reviewing and updating your estate plan every three to five years and after major life events like a birth or death in the family, marriage, divorce, relocation, or after a change in personal or financial circumstances.
We have decades of experience advising clients on their estate planning needs and are well-positioned to help you revise and update your plan to reflect your current circumstances. We understand that estate planning is a dynamic, lifelong process, and we partner with our clients as they experience marriage, divorce, the birth of a child, new or growing business endeavors, or receipt of a substantial gift or inheritance.
Why Update Your Estate Plan?
Life comes at you fast. One day, you’re starting your first job. The next, you’re holding your first grandchild. As your circumstances change, your estate plan must keep up.
Many changes happen over the course of a lifetime. Some of them should trigger you to re-evaluate your plan so it reflects your current personal and financial situation. Otherwise, you may be left with a personal plan that creates unintended consequences, is difficult for your loved ones to manage, or creates family discord.
When Should You Update Your Estate Plan?
Significant life events should cause you to review your estate plan to ensure it reflects your wishes and current situation and takes advantage of any updates to the law.
Marriage
You should review and update your estate plan when you get married. Under Ohio law, your spouse is legally entitled to a portion of your estate, but you may wish to leave them more. You may also consider naming your spouse as your personal representative and designating them as your financial and healthcare power of attorney.
Divorce
Divorce is one of the most common and important reasons to revise your estate plan. Under Ohio law, a divorce automatically revokes provisions of your estate plan that leave property to your now ex-spouse. However, if your prior personal plan did not identify an alternate beneficiary and you left everything to your former spouse, your divorce will essentially leave you without a will.
Birth of a Child
The birth or adoption of a child is another time to revisit your estate plan. You should update your estate plan to ensure your children are beneficiaries of your estate. You should also name a legal guardian to care for your minor children if you and their other parent both pass away.
The arrival of a grandchild is another opportunity to review and revise your estate plan to provide for the financial well-being of your grandchildren. As your family continues to grow and expand, creating and protecting a financial legacy becomes more important.
Relocation
If you recently moved to another state, you should review your estate plan to ensure it complies with applicable laws.
Other Changes in Circumstance
In addition to changes from marriage, divorce, death, the birth of a child, or relocation, your family may experience other circumstances that require a change in your estate plan. For example, if a beneficiary experiences a significant medical problem, you may need to make changes to your estate plan to account for that change in circumstance.
Changes to Your Financial Situation
A significant change to your financial situation may also require a change to your estate plan. Changes in financial situation can be positive or negative and may include an inheritance or a significant depletion of assets, the purchase or sale of a business, acquisition or loss of significant assets (including real estate), or the significant growth of your assets.
Changes to state or federal laws might also impact your estate plan. Our lawyers do our best to stay abreast of significant changes in state and federal laws and the impact those changes could have on our clients. Nonetheless, if you become aware of a change in the law, it is wise to contact our estate planning lawyers to discuss whether the change will affect you and your estate plan.
How Do You Update Your Estate Plan?
During your consultation, our lawyers will ask questions to learn about your personal and financial situation, your wishes for end-of-life care, and how you want your assets to be distributed upon your passing. If you already have an estate plan, we will assess whether your current estate planning documents meet your needs. If they do not, we will suggest changes to the documents so your new estate plan reflects your current financial and personal situation and will meet your needs.
If you do not have an estate plan, we can prepare one for you.
Contact RKPT’s Estate Planning Attorneys Today
RKPT’s estate planning attorneys can help you develop your personal plan and ensure it remains up-to-date and reflects your current personal and financial situation. We can help you understand and analyze different scenarios and create a customized estate plan to meet your needs.
To learn more, call us at (513) 721-3330 or contact us online.
