WHEN TO UPDATE YOUR ESTATE PLAN

May 30, 2013

The best time to review and update your current Estate plan is if a significant amount of time has passed since the time of its creation. Our life and relationships continue to change and evolve over time and your plan should continuously be updated to reflect those changes.

In the case of either getting married or getting a divorce it is imperative to make changes to your estate plan. If you have gotten married, then you and your new spouse may be eligible for a variety of estate and gift planning options. If you have been divorced then your estate plan, insurance policies, and retirement plans must be updated to remove your ex-spouse as a beneficiary and/or fiduciary.

If any of your beneficiaries or fiduciaries have passed away it is important to remove their names from your estate plan. If you do not make this change, the appointed successor trustee will have to spend a considerable amount of time and resources to locate their death certificate in order to fix the issue.

Your estate plan should continuously be reviewed and updated to reflect important changes in your life as well as the lives of the people named as trustees, beneficiaries, and fiduciaries within your plan.

Juliet Gavriel, Esq.

Estate and Elder Law attorney

Practice Limited exclusively to: Wills, Trusts, Estates, Probate, and Medicaid Planning.

Located in Forest Hills- Queens, New York City, New York