Revisions to Existing Plans

Every five years or so, you should visit with your attorney and review your plan. Your attorney will notify you about any changes to the law that could impact you or your beneficiaries. You will update your attorney on your current asset level, any new or closed accounts, changes in family circumstances, or issues with the fiduciaries and the agents you have named in your documents.

If you haven’t seen your attorney in a decade or more, consider why that is the case. Have you just been busy? Is there something that has happened that makes you want to avoid thinking about how your assets pass after you die, who will be responsible for them, or that makes you unsure about what you should do? Is your attorney someone you are comfortable with and you enjoy talking to? If not, how will your loved ones feel meeting with that person if you become very ill or when you pass away? 

While estate plans are highly personal, the following circumstances could indicate that you should have the current plan evaluated:

• Your power of attorney documents were created prior to 2010;

• You received an inheritance that has substantially affected your asset level;

• You are having health issues and want to select a health care agent and power of attorney agent to speak for you and make decisions for you if become incapacitated;

• You have lost a spouse;

• You have an elderly parent and need advice to make sure that things go as smoothly as possible after they pass away or if they become incapacitated;

• Your children are now old enough to serve as your agents or executors;

• Family dynamics have changed / a family member is now estranged;

• You have minor children and want to have some say about the people who would serve as guardians and trustees for your minor children if you were to die;

• Your adult child has married and you’d like to make sure assets you leave to your child stay in your family line;

• You have a child with special needs need to make sure he/she is taken care of after you are no longer able to do so;

• You are in your second marriage and you and your spouse want to ensure that your individual assets can be used to help the survivor during the remainder of their lifetime, but ultimately pass to your respective children after the second spouse dies;

• You created a trust in the past, but it is unfunded and you don’t know how to use it;

• Your children have large estates or are in professions with high risk of being sued and you want to make sure that the assets that you leave to them are not susceptible to potential claims or to estate taxes upon their death;

• You want to make sure things are as simple as possible for your loved ones after you pass;

• You are getting divorced and would no longer want your soon-to-be ex-spouse to serve as your health care proxy or power of attorney agent; or

• Your estate, or your and your spouse’s combined estates, are over the current New York State or federal estate tax threshold. Keep in mind that all assets, including even retirement accounts and life insurance proceeds, are included in the calculation to determine the size of your estate.