Creating an estate plan is a wonderful thing. By doing so, you help ensure that your loved ones receive the assets that you intend them to, while also helping to make the transition easier. For a truly successful plan, however, you must regularly modify it to address your changing circumstances. Estate plan updating is a team sport—there are many players at your disposal!
Four Key Players On The Estate Plan Modification Team
Now that you have decided to take the important step towards updating your estate plan, it is time to meet the team! The following are the key players:
- Your estate planning attorney. Naturally, your estate planning attorney is the most important player on your team. The attorney serves as the quarterback, working with the other advisors in order to ensure that your estate plan is up to date.
- Your financial advisor. Typically, your estate planning attorney cannot accomplish everything alone when it comes to keeping your plan up to date. Your financial advisor may be called upon to assist with a crucial aspect of modifying an estate plan: ensuring that your trust remains properly funded. This advisor may help to retitle assets as well as make recommendations for potential assets that could go into a trust.
- Your tax advisor. For any estate plan, utilizing a tax advisor when doing an update is crucial. Your tax advisor can help to ensure that your tax return filing obligations are met and make recommendations for ways to better align your estate plan from a tax perspective.
- You! It is important to remember that you are a vital part of your estate plan modification team. While your advisors are there to assist and advise you, it is up to you to follow through with their recommendations. Understanding the importance of regular estate planning updates is crucial to your plan’s success.
We hope that this article provided you with a unique insight into how the estate planning update process works. If you are interested in learning more about keeping an estate plan up to date in Anaheim, we encourage you to sign up for our free newsletter today!