Law Office Report - Fall 2008
Updating Your Estate Planning Documents
Attorney Amy J. EddyEstate planning is a lifelong process that does not end the moment you sign your Will or Revocable Trust. Your estate planning documents are intended to be flexible documents that can be changed as your needs change over time. Once you have established your initial estate plan, you should keep it up to date to ensure its accuracy and validity.
It is a good idea to review your Will every two to three years to make sure that it is up to date with your current family circumstances and the current tax and estate planning laws. In addition, you should ask your attorney about updating your Will when any of the following occur:
- There is a birth or death in your family;
- Your financial situation changes significantly;
- You want to name a new guardian, personal representative (executor) or trustee;
- You want to change how your property will be distributed;
- Your marital status changes (marriage or divorce); or
- You move to a new state.
Your plan may have been prepared when your children were minors. If they are now adults, provisions regarding guardianship and trusts will be outdated. Your financial situation may have changed so that you have more to distribute, and you may wish to reallocate the distributions between family members. You may have been positively influenced by a charitable organization and now wish to include that entity in your estate plan.
While individuals or couples often wish to make these types of changes to their estate plan, they are reluctant to do so because they are concerned about the potential time and cost of having a new Will or Trust prepared; however, in many cases, amendments to estate plans do not require having entirely new documents prepared.
It is important to seek legal help in making the necessary changes. Laws for making and changing Wills and Trusts are specific, and you will want to be sure everything is done correctly. To make a valid change to your Will, you should add a “Codicil,” which is an amendment to your Will. To make a valid change to your Revocable Trust, you should execute an Amendment to the Trust, being careful to cite the provisions that allow you to make the Amendment. These documents to amend your Will or Trust leave the original documents intact. This is important so that if the date of the Will or Trust is referenced on beneficiary designations or other documents, those items do not have to be changed. It is important that you do not simply cross out the part you want to delete and write in your changes. Your changes may not be honored, and you could even void the entire Will or Trust.
When in doubt, speak with your attorney for advice about whether a Codicil or an Amendment is appropriate and for assistance with preparing the appropriate documents.