Creating a California estate plan is a great way to prepare for your future. However, estate planning is an ongoing process. You might consider reviewing your plan at least once or twice a year. Certain life events will require you to update your estate plan.
Beneficiary change
Estate planning involves choosing beneficiaries for things such as a life insurance policy or a retirement account. If the status of a beneficiary changes, you’ll need to make sure your estate plan reflects that.
For example, a beneficiary might die before you. Or you might decide you no longer want a person as a beneficiary. In either case, you’ll need to make sure you remove those people from your estate plan.
Marital status
Getting married or divorced will affect your estate plan. If you get divorced, you might want to revise your estate plan to remove any mention of your ex-spouse. Likewise, you’ll probably want to include your current spouse in the estate plan. Failing to update your plan could result in your ex-spouse getting benefits that you want your current spouse to receive.
New assets
When you acquire new assets, you’ll likely want to put them in your estate plan. Assets such as real estate, bonds, personal property and mutual funds can get added to the plan.
Birth or adoption of a child
You might want to hold stocks, money, real estate or some other inheritance for your child. Update your plan to include any child that came into your life after you established your estate plan.
The above situations are only a few examples of when you should update your estate plan. Keeping your estate plan updated ensures that the right people will receive your assets.