An estate plan is a snapshot of your wishes, family, property, and chosen decision-makers at a particular moment. Life keeps moving after the documents are signed. A plan that was sensible ten years ago may no longer describe the life you have today.
Review after a major life event
- Marriage, separation, or divorce
- Birth or adoption of a child or grandchild
- Death, illness, or incapacity of a beneficiary or decision-maker
- Purchase or sale of a home, business, or other important asset
- A move to California or another state
- A significant change in finances or family relationships
Confirm the people you named
Look again at the trustee, executor, financial agent, health care agent, and guardian nominees. Are they still willing, able, and appropriate? Is the order of backups still practical? A good document can become difficult to use when the people named in it are no longer available.
Check assets and beneficiary designations
New real estate and financial accounts may never have been coordinated with the trust. Retirement accounts and life insurance pass under beneficiary forms rather than the will, so those designations deserve their own review.
Read the plan as a family member would
Ask whether the instructions are clear and whether they still reflect your intentions. Changes in a beneficiary’s maturity, health, finances, or public-benefit needs may call for a different distribution structure.
Do not write changes in the margins
Handwritten edits or detached notes may create confusion without legally amending the document. Have changes prepared and signed with the formalities required by California law.
Gene Gleason helps La Mirada families review existing plans and identify what should be updated, funded, or left alone.
This article provides general information and is not legal advice.
Related from Gene: estate planning · Gene on updating your trust. Questions about your own family? Please schedule a consultation with Gene.
