When you begin reviewing your estate plan, it can feel like a difficult and lengthy task. This is especially true if you have a lot of complex pieces involved. Fortunately, you do not need to review the entire estate plan each time.
But how do you know which parts to prioritize? Understanding this is crucial to streamlining your review process.
Will and trust
Forbes takes a look at your estate plan and discusses how you may want to prioritize your review. First, you want to focus on crucial components. This includes things like your trust or will. Your trust holds assets that will go out after your death. You use it to determine who gets what, along with how and when they will get it. Meanwhile, your will dictates everything that happens to your estate and body after your death. Both should always reflect your current wishes and life circumstances.
Key figures and beneficiaries
Key figures are also crucial. Start with your beneficiaries. Check who is on your joint accounts and who benefits from your insurance policies. You also want to ensure your trust funds and other assets go out to the right people. Loved ones come and go in your life, so you want to ensure this stays up to date, too.
Other key figures include your power of attorney and health care proxy. They handle all legal and medical matters in your end of life if you can no longer handle them yourself. They make important decisions on your behalf that can affect your life and your estate. Thus, these people need to have your full trust and should be able to act on your behalf with ease.
When doing your review every three years, these are some of the most important parts to keep up with. You can review the rest in more extensive but less frequent reviews.
