Tips for Reviewing Your Estate Plan

Developing all of your estate planning documents is only one aspect of estate planning you should focus on. Once you have these documents in place, it is important to periodically review them and make any necessary adjustments.

Here are a few tips for reviewing your estate plan.

• Review beneficiaries: It’s a good idea to periodically check assets with beneficiary designations to remind yourself of who you have designated as your beneficiary. Make sure those designations reflect your current life situation and wishes. It’s common for people to have incorrect beneficiary designations after they pass away, and it becomes much harder to fix this after your passing.
• Review assets: Your estate plan should consider how your assets are owned. It’s critical to give your loved ones easy access to your assets in the event of your death or incapacity. Some assets might be better off being owned jointly with another one, or you may at least wish to have an attorney-in-fact authorized on some of your accounts. If you have a revocable trust, consider transferring ownership of most of your assets to the trust.
• Scheduled reviews: You should make it a rule go review and update your estate plan after major life changes, such as a marriage, birth of a child, death of an heir or divorce. But if you haven’t had major life changes in a while, you should plan on reviewing your estate plan every five to seven years just to make sure it reflects your current wishes.

For more information about the best ways to stay on top of your estate planning, contact an experienced Tampa estate planning attorney at BaumannKangas Estate Law.