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Should I Update My Estate Plan?

Estate Planning For Life's Stages

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Your estate plan should certainly be revised, if you have gotten married or divorced.

Why Do You Need an Estate Plan?

An estate plan exists to accomplish three things.

  1. Preserving your accumulated wealth
  2. To specify who will inherit your assets after your death; and
  3. To indicate who will make health care and financial decisions on your behalf if you’re unable.

Keep Your Estate Plan Updated

As you age, you should consider updating your estate plan. Why? Well, your feelings may change over time or you may experience a significant life event that requires you to update things. These are events such as a marriage or divorce, a new child or grandchild, or a significant change in your health, wealth and outlook on life.

In addition to your will and trusts, you need to review your power of attorney, healthcare directive, living will and HIPAA waiver.

It’s critical to recognize the life events that may necessitate updating your estate plan.

For example, if you are recently married or divorced, according to some state laws, existing wills are nullified when someone gets married or divorced.

It’s also possible that your wealth has increased significantly, which may affect the way you view how your assets should be distributed to your beneficiaries.

Decide Where Your Money Goes, Again

Another reason to update your plan, is if you want to give more (or less) to charity or to your heirs.

Your executor or trustees may change their minds about their roles, no longer live nearby, or they themselves have died. If an individual is no longer interested in assuming those responsibilities, no longer alive, or no longer in good health or of repute, then there is a need to revise the document.

Life is Constantly Changing

Some other reasons to update your plan include if you’re in the process of retiring, moving to another state, or buying or selling real estate.ozarks-legacy-law-update-your-estate-plan

Each of these events calls for a comprehensive estate plan review.

Finally, your goals may evolve over the years as a result of changes to your lifestyle or circumstances, such as an inheritance, career change, marriage, house purchase, or a growing family.

Update Your Estate Plan at Ozarks Legacy Law

It’s important to keep your estate plan up to date to make sure your wishes are clearly stated. We know all the documents can get confusing, especially whenever you start updating things. Make sure your documents are filed and filled out correctly. Trust your estate plan updates to an experienced estate planning attorney. Book a call with one of our attorneys to start the process.

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