Your estate plan should always be accurate pertaining to your life circumstances. To learn the reasons that may require your estate plan to be updated, continue reading and reach out to our experienced estate planning attorney. If you have any further questions regarding the process of updating your estate plan, look no further than our knowledgeable firm.

Reasons to Update Your Estate Plan

If your estate plan was drafted three or more years ago, it may be time to update your documents. The following are the most common circumstances that may require your estate plan to be updated to reflect your current life circumstances:

Executors or trustees become inappropriate: It is not uncommon for the individual who is appointed in your estate plan to no longer be a good fit for the role. If the appointed individual in your estate plan is no longer able to perform the job as you wish, this is a great reason to update your estate plan. Further reasons to update your appointed individual is if the individual has passed away, aged, or moved away.

You moved: Every state has its own estate planning laws. When you make a move across state borders, this may mean that your estate plan is no longer relevant to the laws of your new home state. It is critical that you update your estate plan after a move. There may be differences in the number of witnesses required for a will to be valid. Some states may require that a spouse inherits a minimum share of the estate.

There is a new addition to your family: If your family has gained a new family member, it may be time to update your estate planning documents to reflect your growing family. This is often done when a child or grandchild is born. On the other side, you may want to update your estate plan to omit someone from your estate plan due to death or divorce in the family.

You need to update your retirement plan: It is common for individuals to forget to update the beneficiary designations of IRAs, 401(k)s, and other retirement plans. Beneficiary destinations control who receives annuities, finances accounts, assets, and life insurance. Review each of these forms and amend them if necessary.

To begin the estate plan updating process, give our knowledgeable estate planning attorney a call.

Contact Our Firm

Zimmet Law Group, P.C. is an experienced team of attorneys guiding clients through matters of estate planning and administration, divorce and family law, real estate, commercial litigation, business law, bankruptcy, and landlord-tenant law. If you require the services of an effective New York City attorney, contact our firm today to schedule a consultation.