Menu
SENIOR LIFE ODYSSEY: Estate planning: Don’t ‘set it and forget it’
You’ve met with an attorney and signed a will or trust. Your estate plan is all set, right? You can forget about it, and your wishes will all be carried out.
Well, maybe they will be and maybe they won’t.
Elderly clients sometimes come to our firm with a will or trust they signed when their kids were in grade school. Thank goodness they come to us before they need long-term care and before they die.
Things change over the course of a lifetime, and your estate plan should, too. It’s a good idea to ask a professional to review your plan every few years. Updating your plan may also be needed when you reach certain milestones in life – a divorce, remarriage, the birth of a grandchild, a serious medical diagnosis, retirement, an inheritance of your own or merely getting older.
Even if you just completed your estate plan or did that recently, there are other things you can do to make sure your plan works correctly and your heirs know what to do.
Update Asset Ownership, Beneficiary Designations
Remember that your will only controls things you own in your own individual name that do not have a beneficiary designation or “payable on death” designation. So, if your will says that everything goes to your children, but your old life insurance policy says the death benefit goes to your brother, your brother gets the life insurance money. If you own a bank account jointly with your spouse, but your will says everything goes to your children, the bank account will still go to your wife.
The same is true if you have a trust. It only controls assets owned by that trust. So, if you have a bank account not owned by the trust, it may go to someone you didn’t intend. If your trust is intended to protect assets from long-term care costs and you fail to transfer ownership of assets to that trust, those assets won’t be protected.
Finally, just because you own real estate jointly with someone else, it doesn’t guarantee that you own the entire property if the other person dies. Unless you are married to that person or the deed specifically says you own the property “jointly with right of survivorship,” at the other owner’s death his or her half interest will go to his or her heirs.
The key point is this: Check all your bank and investment accounts, your retirement accounts, and your real estate. Be sure the beneficiary designations are correct and/or that ownership of those items is correct. Ask your attorney for help if you’re not sure.
Give Your Executor Helpful Information
The person you choose to be in charge after you die is called the “executor” (if he’s a man) or “executrix” (if she’s a woman). Those are Latin words that aren’t used much anymore. The more modern term is “personal representative.”
Be sure that person knows he or she has been chosen to serve. Give the personal representative (or PR) as much information as you can to make the job easier. Here are some examples.
Location of Important Documents: Let the PR know where to find your estate planning documents. Better yet, leave a list of where to find all of your important documents, like life insurance policies, bank statements, investment and retirement account statements, deeds to real estate, vehicle titles, and the like.
Professional Contacts: Provide a list showing professional service providers you work with – your banker, your lawyer, your investment advisor, your insurance agent, your funeral home director, and your pastor. Include phone numbers, addresses, and email addresses.
Family and Friends: Share the names, addresses, and phone numbers of key people who should be notified of your passing. Make sure your old Army buddy or your nephew in California finds out about your death in a timely manner.
Plans for Your Funeral or Celebration of Life: We recommend pre-planning and pre-paying for your funeral if you can. Even if you don’t, you can leave a letter or some notes saying what sort of funeral or end-of-life event you would like. Do you want to be buried or cremated? Where should your remains be buried or scattered? What type of service would you consider appropriate? Is there special music you’d like played or people you hope will speak?
It takes time and effort to do your part when it comes to estate planning. But if you don’t, your wishes may not be carried out. If you do, you’ll be doing a huge favor to your personal representative, your family, and any other heirs.
This overview is provided as a public service, not as legal advice to any individual. Be sure to speak to a qualified attorney who can answer your questions, analyze your goals, and give personalized advice.
Michael and Adam Goss are Greencastle attorneys who focus on elder law.