How often should I update my estate plan?
Updates are recommended anytime you experience an event that would constitute an update to your estate plan (see below for details). With that said, we recommend doing a periodic review of your estate plan every 3–5 years to ensure it still aligns with your wishes and situation.
What events constitute an update to my estate plan?
There are a number of situations for which we'd recommend making an update to your estate plan. Here are some of the most common ones.
Change in marital status
If you get married or divorced, you'll want to revisit your estate plan. In marriage, you may consider adding your spouse as a beneficiary or grant the power of attorney. Inversely, you may want to remove a former spouse from key roles in your estate plan, such as executor, trustee, beneficiary, or power of attorney in the event of a divorce.
Change in dependents
If you have another child or grandchild—through birth or adoption—consider adding them as a beneficiary in your estate plan. You'll also have the opportunity to name a guardian in the event of your incapacitation.
Should one of your beneficiaries pass away or become otherwise incapacitated, update your plan to reflect the adjusted distributions between remaining dependents.
Change in executor or power of attorney
If your appointed executor or power of attorney becomes unable or unwilling to serve in their appointment, you'll need to find a replacement and adjust your estate plan accordingly. This should be done as quickly as possible, as failing to make this adjustment can result in the state making these decisions on behalf of your estate.
Change in financial situation
If you acquire new assets, you may consider adjusting your estate plan to reflect them. This can include a large inheritance, property, business ownership, investments, etc.
If you have a decrease in assets, you can adjust how remaining assets are distributed.
Changes to business ownership
If you start or buy a new business, you can adjust your estate plan to reflect business-specific decisions, such as succession planning, ownership transfers, etc.
Regulatory changes
If you move to another state or country with different estate planning laws, or become aware of any changes in federal or state tax laws, you may need to review your estate plan to ensure compliance with newly applicable regulations.
How do I make changes to my estate plan?
NOTE: Depending on the type of change you are making, you may need to re-notarize your documents. Re-notarization is required for things like marriage, divorce, new children, adding or removing beneficiaries, etc. Other changes like adding or removing personal assets or real estate will not require you to notarize your documents.
PRIME EP
You can update your PRIME Estate Plan in your portal following the instructions below:
Minor Changes
Select the document requiring changes and click "Make changes."
Follow the prompts.
Print off the new updated pages of the document you made changes to and put them into the binder we sent you. Discard the old pages you are replacing.
Major Changes
Go to the “Documents” tab and click "Reassess my needs" in the bottom left-hand corner.
Go back through the questions and resubmit your responses.
Major changes will cause all of your documents to be regenerated. This means you will receive new documents in the mail. During your first year, these changes are free. After that, you can make as many updates as needed for $199 per new document.
Unlimited EP
To make changes to your Unlimited Estate Plan, initiate the process by emailing [email protected]. Include a description of the life events or reasons for the requested changes.
They'll help you schedule a call with a paralegal to review the necessary changes. The paralegal will then create a final draft, including all updates, and send it to you for final approval.
Your amended documents will be sent to you digitally (through your portal or by email) with instructions on how exactly to update your physical copy.