Estate plans are created to carry out your wishes, but the assets they govern rarely stay the same. Over time, inflation, changes in the housing market, and market performance can reshape an estate in ways that are difficult to predict. Those financial shifts do not necessarily mean your estate plan is outdated, but they can affect whether it still produces the outcome you originally intended.
That is why reviewing an estate plan from time to time is about more than updating names or replacing old documents. It is an opportunity to confirm that your plan still reflects your goals and works the way you intended.
Has the Balance of Your Estate Changed?
Estate planning is not always about how much your estate is worth. Sometimes it is about whether the way your assets are divided still reflects your intentions.
For example, you may have intended for two children to receive roughly equal inheritances. When your estate plan was created, leaving the family home to one child and a cash gift or investment account to another may have accomplished that goal. Years later, if the home’s value has increased significantly while the cash gift has remained the same, those inheritances may no longer be as balanced as you originally intended.
The same idea applies to specific cash gifts. An amount that seemed appropriate years ago may not have the same purchasing power today because of inflation, even though your wishes have not changed.
A periodic review can help identify situations like these before they create unintended results.
Has Your Financial Picture Changed?
Changes in the economy do not only affect individual assets. Over time, they can also change the overall size and complexity of your estate.
Perhaps your investment portfolio has grown, you have purchased additional real estate, started or expanded a business, received an inheritance, or accumulated significantly more wealth than you had when your estate plan was first created. While those are often positive changes, they may also mean your current plan no longer reflects the estate you have today.
In some cases, changes in the size or makeup of an estate may also create planning opportunities that simply were not relevant years ago. A periodic review can help determine whether your existing plan is still the best fit or whether adjustments should be considered.
Beneficiary Designations Matter Too
When people review retirement or investment accounts, the focus is often on performance. It is also a good opportunity to review beneficiary designations.
Retirement accounts, life insurance policies, and other assets with designated beneficiaries generally pass according to those beneficiary forms rather than the instructions in a will. If those designations have not been reviewed in several years, they may no longer reflect your wishes or fit with the rest of your estate plan.
Looking at beneficiary designations alongside the rest of your planning helps ensure everything continues working together as intended.
Regular Reviews Help Keep Your Plan on Track
The value of your assets will likely change over time. That is a normal part of building wealth, saving for retirement, and investing for the future. What is easy to overlook is how those changes can affect the way an estate plan ultimately works.
Reviewing your estate plan periodically gives you the opportunity to confirm that it still reflects your wishes, your family, and your financial picture today. In many cases, no changes are needed. In others, relatively small updates can help ensure your plan continues to produce the outcome you originally intended.
If it has been several years since your estate plan was reviewed, our team at TrustCounsel can help you determine whether any updates may be appropriate. Please visit our contact page to locate the nearest office or complete our online form and a member of our team will follow up to assist with scheduling.