As you begin to declutter your garage, empty out your closets of old clothes from a decade ago, and freshen up your home this Spring, it may be the perfect time to do a little “life cleaning” to ensure your life planning documents are in order, up to date, and have reflected any life events in the past few years. Documents to update could include your life insurance, beneficiary designation forms, and your estate planning documents.
If you already have an estate plan in place, that may be one item checked off your bucket list. However, it is important to continuously review your plan for any changes to your life. Outlined below are the top five items to consider whether it is time to make an update in your estate planning documents:
1. Your Beneficiaries
Have you experienced any significant changes since you last created your estate plan? Significant changes include a marriage or a divorce, the birth of new children or grandchildren, or even the loss of a loved one or friend who was in your planning documents. Individuals will often reevaluate payments made during the lifetime of their beneficiaries and account for that in the distribution of their assets after death. For example, grandparents of adult and minor children will knowingly provide additional assets to the minor children for their college education, since they provided for their adult grandchildren’s college education.
Any significant change in life could warrant an update to your estate plan, or at the very least, a quick revisit to your documents to ensure everything is in order.
2. Your Decision-Makers (i.e., Your Trustee)
It is important to take a second look at who the decision makers are for your trust (i.e., your trustee), your healthcare agent, your agent under your durable power of attorney, and/or the executor of your will. Are these still the right individuals for the job? Have your decision-makers aged, died, or have had families of their own to be too busy to handle acting as your decision-maker? Or are there more appropriate individuals (i.e., minor children who have now become adults) who better fit the category to make decisions related to your person and trust?
It may be time to revisit who the best individuals are for each role in your documents.
3. Your Document Organization
Do you or your loved ones know where to find your estate plan and other important documents? Do your spouse or children know where the original documents are? What about account information, passwords, and important contact details for your attorney or financial advisor?
Estate planning is all about making life easier for the people you love. A well-organized plan, including clearly labeled folders and accessible information, can save a lot of time, expense, and confusion during an already difficult time.
4. Your Digital Life
In just the span of a decade, the world around us has become more digitalized than ever. Our entire world is online, from our photos, email, social media, and potentially even assets (think cryptocurrency). If something happens to you, can your loved ones access your accounts? Are your digital assets and information even mentioned in your estate plan?
It may be time to revamp your plan and include a fresh list of assets, and it may be a good idea to document all passwords and website information. Luckily, California has laws in place that let you authorize access to digital assets in your estate plan, but only if you do it diligently and correctly.
5. New Laws and Opportunities
As with all things in life, change is inevitable. That includes changes to estate planning laws and policies. Estate planning laws are not set in stone. For example, the current federal estate tax exemption’s historically high limit is set to expire and be reduced to a lower limit starting in 2026 (if Congress does not act). This may be of particular importance for individuals and married couples in 2025 who may benefit from specialized planning techniques now.
Even if you are not in that category, probate laws, property transfers, and even digital assets change more often than you think. A quick check-in with your estate planning attorney can help provide you with an advantage of staying up to date with your plan and ensure everything goes according to your wishes.
Need help with a refresh?
If you are not sure where to start, or if your “estate plan” is a dusty binder somewhere in your closet, at Absolute Trust Counsel, we are happy to help. A quick review can make sure everything is still working the way you intended and give you one less thing to worry about.
[AD] Estate planning addresses many important factors about your future and legacy. Where do you get started if you don’t have an estate plan in place? If you do, how have new laws and life transitions changed? Will your plan still protect you? Regardless, you deserve to have control over your wants, needs, goals, and hopes for the future. We can help you understand your options and, legally, how you will best be protected at all touchpoints. Get started today by scheduling a free discovery call so we can discuss your needs. Visit https://absolutetrustcounsel.com/scheduling/ or call us at (925) 943-2740.
