Anyone who takes financial planning seriously knows that you must adjust to ever-changing market conditions. This adaptivity is something to apply to estate planning as well.
If you go forward feeling as though you have everything in place because you executed an estate plan in the past without paying attention to relevant changes that come down the pike you could be taking some big risks.
One of the things that should set off the alarm that motivates you to make an appointment to speak with your estate planning lawyer would be a change in marital status.
When you are getting married for the first time you’re going to have a new set of responsibilities as someone else is relying on you. An estate plan review will invariably be in order so that you can make provisions for your new spouse.
Should you get divorced it is likely that your intentions will change, and your estate plan must be adjusted to reflect your current wishes.
Remarriage presents another set of circumstances, especially if you have children from a previous marriage or marriages is that you would like to protect.
And of course, the estate tax is always looming. Changes in your own financial standing and/or changes in the parameters of the estate tax could render your existing estate plan in need of revisions.
The wise way to proceed is to get in touch with your estate planning attorney and make the necessary adjustments immediately. It can always seem as though you have plenty of time to take action but you never know what lies around the next bend in the road.
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