New Year’s Resolutions for Your Estate Plan
Your estate plan is in place to protect your assets from creditors and the future of your family. You are proud of the amount of work you put into your estate, and you want to make sure it is always in top condition. As the New Year approaches, most people make resolutions about losing weight or getting a new job. One of your very important resolutions should be to take the actions necessary to make sure that your estate plan is still as solid as it was the day you and your estate planning attorney finished it.
Reflect on Your Life Changes from Last Year
Your life can change considerably in the course of one year. You could lose a job, but gain a higher-paying replacement. You might get divorced, and then you might even re-marry in the same year. You and your spouse might have welcomed in a new child, or you could have inherited a windfall from a deceased relative.
You need to sit down and write out all of these changes in your life with as much detail as possible. You need to make notes on every significant life change that is going to have an effect on your assets, and an effect on how your estate is handled when you have passed on. When that clock clicks over to the New Year, it is your time to start reflecting on what has happened.
Make a Standing Annual Appointment with Your Estate Planning Attorney
Every year, you should have a standing appointment with your estate planning attorney to review your estate and update it. You will use the information you gathered when you made all of your notes about the previous year’s activity, and you might even have to make more notes depending on what your estate planning attorney tells you. It is critically important to meet with your estate planning attorney each year to review your estate and make any of the important changes that need to be made.
Review Your Choice for Estate Executor
Before you named your estate executor in your will, you should have had a long talk with that person about the responsibilities that come with the position. The last thing your family needs is an executor who gets cold feet when it comes time to deal with the probate court. Each year, you should have a discussion with your executor to make sure they are still on board with being the handler of your estate. It is better for you to change executors while you are still alive than having the courts do it after you have passed away.
If you do not have a secondary executor, then you should add one this year. You never know what can happen and your executor might pass away at the same time as you do. By having a back-up in your estate, you can help your estate to move more quickly through probate.
Review Your Beneficiaries
As we mentioned earlier, a lot can change in your life in the course of a year. For example, your primary beneficiaries might have passed away, or you might have had a falling out with them. Since you do not want to have your assets going to people who are either no longer around or not in your good graces, it helps to review your beneficiaries each year and make any appropriate changes.
Consider Changing the Structure of Your Estate
If last year saw your financial situation significantly improve, then your estate planning attorney might recommend that you start a trust instead of a will-based estate. A trust is a great way to protect assets from probate court, and it can also have many tax benefits. You can use a trust while you are still alive, and the trust will automatically distribute assets after you have passed away. If your financial means have grown, then it may be easier to handle your estate in a trust.
Maybe it is Time for a New Estate Planner
You want an estate planning attorney that is proactive and constantly offering suggestions on how to make your estate better. Someone who is always looking to improve their own knowledge base and find little ways to make your estate more beneficial to you and your family. If you do not feel as though you are getting the most from your current estate planning attorney, then right after the New Year is the time to think about making a change.
The Mattar Firm has years of experience in estate planning and helping people to make the right decisions about their futures. We enjoy the challenge of constantly offering our clients new ideas that could help reduce taxes when they pass away, and get more assets into the hands of their loved ones. We are always on the hunt for the best ways to service our estate planning customers, and we invite you to give our estate planning attorneys a call today.