Wall Street Journal: "Time to Update Your Estate Plan"

Fatigued by all of the headlines about the presidential elections these past few months, I almost missed a great article in the Wall Street Journal this week entitled "It's an Election Year; Is Your Will Updated?" All I saw as I glanced at the headline was "It's an Election Year . . ." to which I sarcastically responded "Well that's a newsworthy article!" and turned the page. Later, after a closer look at the headline and reading on, I came across a very sage bit of advice given by financial journalist, Karen Blumenthal. She suggests that families and individuals should update their estate plans between the conventions and the elections every four years "...much like changing the batteries in your smoke detectors every time we go on or off daylight-saving time."

Ms. Blumenthal correctly reminds us, however, that "estate planning" is more than pulling out your will or living trust and taking a cursory look at it to determine if it still reflects your testamentary intentions. Her article includes within the concept of "reviewing your estate plan" the following:

• Checking the beneficiary designations on retirement accounts, 401(k) accounts, life insurance policies and similar accounts that allow for beneficiary designations.
• Updating your Will or Trust documents to reflect changes in your family or circumstances. Such changes might include the birth of children or grandchildren, divorces, deaths, or illnesses of yourself or family members.
• Tax Planning: changes in the tax laws are as frequent as sunny days in Arizona. Often, these changes can have a real impact on how one should structure their estate plans. Four years is ample time for congress to tinker with the tax code enough to potentially wreck a previously well drafted estate plan.
• Review Powers of Attorney and Living Wills. Good estate planning does not just plan for your death; it also plans for scenarios where you don't die. Are you still comfortable with the individuals that are named as your agents or representatives in these important documents?
• Insurance Policies should be reviewed to make sure they're up to date with the most current information. Furthermore, you may consider purchasing more insurance or canceling policies that no longer make sense to keep.

Much like taking your car in for a tune-up, a regular, scheduled review of your estate plan is critical to ensuring that your values and goals are realized when it comes to your financial and medical planning. Likewise, allowing a finely tuned automobile to sit untouched for a decade or two, and then hoping it will get you from New York to L.A. on a moment's notice is no more advisable than leaving your estate plan unexamined for a similar time-span.