After creating an estate plan, you must maintain its upkeep. This is a crucial step that not everyone knows about. But your life constantly changes, and your estate plan must reflect your most current circumstances.
But what are the rules regarding estate plan updates? Is there any particular time or scenario you need to aim for? And just how often should you update your estate plan?
Review every three years
Forbes looks into reasons for updating your estate plan. First, they acknowledge that sometimes years pass without any significant life changes. If that happens to you, experts suggest that you still review your estate plan once every 3 years. This gives you a chance to refresh your memory. Something might have changed that you simply forgot about, and this gives you the chance to fix it.
Reviewing after major life changes
Barring that, you should consider reviewing your estate plan any time there is a major life change. In particular, you want to reexamine your plan after financial or familial changes. This includes a sudden influx or loss of assets. It also includes the loss of any beneficiary through death, estrangement or divorce. If you happen to gain a family member through adoption, marriage or birth, you would want to account for that as well.
Finally, you want to review your plan if you move to another place. This is especially true if you leave the state entirely. However, even different counties can have different regulations for estate planning. You want to ensure that the law of your new home would still consider your estate plan valid.