Estate planning is an ongoing responsibility, much like maintaining your residence, yard, or vehicle.
You owe these responsibilities to yourself, your family, and, in the case of your estate plan, your beneficiaries.
After establishing an estate plan, periodic check-ups are crucial, particularly following significant life events such as divorce, marriage, or the loss of a family member.
Equally important is the meticulous storage of your documents and ensuring that the appropriate individuals have access to them in the event of your passing.
Your executor, your lawyer, the person holding your power of attorney, and the guardians you have named for your children. All these persons should have copies of your estate planning documents.
Experienced professionals in estate planning can guide you through these considerations, facilitating the necessary ongoing maintenance for your plan to function effectively.
When tending to your lawn, you acknowledge the various tasks involved, such as mowing, weeding, or fertilizing.
Furthermore, you understand that these tasks require periodic attention over time.
Estate planning mirrors this approach. Neglecting the occasional care and maintenance your estate plan demands can lead to detrimental consequences.
One example of numerous estate planning mistakes involved a deceased person, whom we will call Ms. Jane Smith, to protect her privacy.
You should know, however, that wills filed in probate court and lawsuits generated by faulty estate planning are all matters of public records. The desire for privacy is yet another reason to keep your estate plan current.
Ms. Smith passed away when in her 40s. Unfortunately, her untimely demise marked the beginning of a lengthy legal process concerning her estate. Fourteen years before her death,
Ms. Smith, then married and residing in Texas, had the foresight to establish an estate plan with her then-husband. Her will designated her spouse as the primary beneficiary.
Nothing unusual about that, but the contingent beneficiary was a somewhat unusual choice: her father-in-law.
Ms. Smith divorced her husband a few years after their marriage.
Part of the divorce agreement allowed the husband to retain the former couple’s property in Texas, while Ms. Smith kept the upstate New York property acquired during the marriage, which is a property that had been in Ms. Smith’s family for many years.
Divorce is a significant life event that warrants a thorough estate plan check-up.
Ms. Smith’s estate planning objectives had shifted post-divorce, necessitating an update to her existing plan or the creation of a new document to reflect these changes. Everyone’s estate planning needs change after a divorce.
Ms. Smith may have taken these steps. A neighbor testified that Ms. Smith executed a new will in 2007, which named her brothers as beneficiaries (obviously, her brothers would have benefited from this testimony).
But after Ms. Smith’s death, this purported new will could not be located.
Once you’ve invested effort into creating and updating your estate plan following a major life event, it is just as important not only to store your documents securely but to inform the relevant individuals of how to access the documents, or even give them copies.
Because the will could not be found, the courts ruled that the first will remained valid.
Because of the divorce, state law precluded the ex-husband from inheriting under the will’s terms.
However, no laws prevented Ms. Smith’s former father-in-law from inheriting.
The family property, with its generational significance to Ms. Smith’s family, was bequeathed to Ms. Smith’s ex-father-in-law.
If you’re contemplating how to create an estate plan, numerous options and scenarios exist.
It’s advisable to make these important decisions with the guidance of qualified legal and financial professionals.
The primary benefit of executing and periodically updating your estate plan is peace of mind.
At the Gregory Law Firm, we offer reviews of existing estate plans as well as creating estate planning documents for clients who have never before executed an estate plan.
We also offer digital options for creating a one-stop storage facility for all your important documents, as well as instructions for how to deal with social media and other online accounts and digital assets after death.
Schedule an online planning session at the Gregory Law Firm today.