Spring Cleaning from an Estate Planning Lawyer: 3 Things to Review NOW
As part of your Spring Cleaning, I recommend that you review a few key things to make sure that your estate and financial plans are going to work when you need them. You have made investments in your future based on goals that you have. It’s smart to review them each year to make sure that you’ve protected your investment, and so that your plan aren’t totally useless by the time you need them.
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Here are the three things you need to review, asap:
1. Review Estate Plan
When you review your estate plan, you should go over who you’ve named in the plan (Guardians, Trustees, Healthcare Representatives) and determine whether those are still the best people suited to those roles. On a recent client review I did, the client’s named trustee had passed away, so my client needed to name a new trustee. But my clients also sometimes just find that their lives have changed enough so that the people they have named aren’t the best choices anymore. You should also review your assets. We have our clients check and make sure that assets are titled properly in the name of their trust. We also review their asset spreadsheet to get current asset values and determine any tax issues. (Oregon estates are taxed on everything over $1 million, so many of my clients face those taxes just because of their life insurance policy and the rising values of their homes.) There are other “flags” in an estate plan review: you received an inheritance, had a death in the family, or had any big life changes.
2. Review Life Insurance
You should also review your life insurance policies each year to make sure that they still fit your needs. For example, maybe you got your policy when you were a stay-at-home parent, and now you’ve gone back to work. When you got the policy, you were looking at how to replace the costs of full time care for your family, but now you need to look at replacing income lost as well. Another example is that maybe you got your life insurance policy when you were a new employee, but now you’ve gotten promotions and raises in income, so your policy should reflect the income you make now. Another area of review is whether you have the right type of insurance currently. You may have started with e term policy, but it may be time to upgrade to a whole life policy.
3. Review Retirement Plan
You should also review your retirement plan to make sure that you are on track to reach your goals. You should be working with a financial advisor on this. A financial advisor can help you to set goals, make a plan to save monthly and yearly to achieve those goals, and check in with you to make sure you’re on track. Each year, you should meet with your advisor to make sure you’re meeting your goals and whether you need to reassess your goals based on any life or income changes.
If you review each of these areas each year, you’ll know that you have wasted any investments you’ve made in your future. These are all ongoing processes. You want them to work when the time comes. Be proactive.
If you want to get started on your estate plan, read about our estate planning services and schedule an appointment.
To your family's health + happiness.
~Candice N. Aiston
P.S. Want to get started slowly but surely, naming guardians for your kids? Check out our Guardian Plan kit.
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Candice N. Aiston is an Legal Planning Attorney for Estates + Businesses in the Portland, Oregon area. She helps people to prepare for a lifetime of security, prosperity, and guidance. If you would like to receive her free reports, please visit http://aistonlaw.com/ to sign up. Follow her Facebook page for daily planning tips: https://www.facebook.com/aistonlaw/.