Life is all about change and your estate plan needs to account for these changes as they occur. Below are five important reasons to make changes to your estate plan.

Updating Your Guardians, Representatives or Trustees.

When the lives of others change, it can affect the way your estate plan is carried out. For example, if your children are still minors (under the age of 18) and you have named your sister as their legal guardian upon your death, this might need to be changed if she moves out of state or takes a new job that requires her to travel extensively.

Or perhaps the person you would really want to raise your children is your brother, but at the time you created your estate plan, he was still finishing school. Now however, he’s married and has a secure job. Updating your estate plan allows you to take advantage of these new circumstances.

Change in the Law

Like everything else in life, estate laws can change. And when they do, you want to be sure your estate plan will still protect you and the ones you love. Of course, you may not always know when laws change so the best solution is to schedule a regular estate plan “checkup” with your estate planning attorney.

Beneficiary Death

Although it’s not the norm, there are times when you outlive your beneficiary. If you’ve named a spouse for example or a sibling who’s close in age, you may survive them instead of the other way around. In these instances, you’ll need to revise your estate plan and choose a new beneficiary or risk the courts choosing a new heir for you.

New Beneficiaries

New children and grandchildren are a joyous excuse to update your estate plan. In addition to stipulating assets to be inherited, you may also want to designate a guardian if the new addition is your child.

Move to a different State

Because some portions of estate plans are governed by state law, a move to a new state could mean the need for some revisions or even a whole new plan. Once again, a good estate planning attorney can assist you in this area since they’ll know how the laws of your new state will impact your existing plan.

Paul A. Kraft, Esq.
Frank & Kraft, A Professional Corporation
135 N. Pennsylvania Street, Suite 1100
Indianapolis, IN 46204

(317) 684-1100
(317) 684-6111 fax
www.frankkraft.com

Frank & Kraft, Attorneys at Law is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

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