If estate planning related only to your numbers, it wouldn’t be one of the financial and legal tasks that most people avoided. It can be difficult to put together an estate plan because it involves confronting your own mortality, but it also raises questions and forces you to make difficult decisions about who will receive your assets and whether or not you intend to treat all heirs equally.
If you haven’t yet put together the necessary estate planning documents that belong in a comprehensive plan, you should consider sitting down with an attorney. If you have documents that were established many years ago, but your life has grown more complex or changed since then, it’s a good idea to consult with your attorney anyways.
You should, at a minimum, revisit your estate plan every five years or whenever there is a major change in your life such as a financial windfall, death, birth or an update in estate laws. Once you get closer to your retirement years, it is imperative that you schedule a consultation with your estate planning attorney. There is a good chance that life changes have occurred and your wishes may have changed.
Your estate plan’s focus will also shift at this point in time. Rather than focusing only on protecting your family if you were to pass away suddenly and early, you may be now in a position to shift your estate planning goals to thinking about how to pass on your legacy and how to use your estate to help the next generation or accomplish charitable goals.
Furthermore, some of the estate planning strategies that you used in the past might no longer be applicable. This is yet another reason why a consultation with an estate planning attorney is valuable. Now people are no longer focused on creating estate plans only to avoid taxes, but now can focus on what you intend to do with your money.
An estate plan that was established many years ago might no longer make sense and a lawyer can help walk you through this process and ensure that your estate plan accomplishes your individual goals effectively.
