How Often Should You Review Your Estate Plan?
That was the subject of this article in The Signal. The author of the article advocates for an annual review of your plan. While I thinIk that the frequency with which you need to review your plan, I unquestionably agree that regualr, careful review of your estate plan is essential. If your lawyer contacts you and suggests that he or she thinks a review of the plan might be a good idea, he's not just looking to earn an extra fee (and many lawyers, myself included, will conduct a regular review for no or minimal additional fee, depending upon the nature of the initial fee agreement), he's just being conscientious. Any estate planning lawyer that does not assist her clients with such regular, periodic reviews, is doing the client a serious disservice. The main reasons for doing these reviews were highlighted in the article in The Signal, and include:
- Changes in the character or scope of your assets - As time goes by, we all obtain additional assets, dispose of others and the value of what we own changes. It is important to assure that the plan that is in place is still appropriiate given these changes.
- Changes in the law - The laws that apply and affect your estate plan change frequently, including, but not limited to, the federal estate tax and any state taxes that apply. Regular check ups help to assure, among other things, that your plan maximizes the value of the assets you will pass on under current law.
- Changes in family circumstances - Births, deaths, marriages and divorces may impact how you want to dispose of your assets, or may have an unanticipated and undesired impact on the disposition scheme that you already have in place.
- Changes in your goals - It may be that the financial and other goals you had in mind when you first did your plan have changed. a periodic review of the plan provides you with the opportunity to assure that the plan that you have in place is best suited to meet these goals.
