Eight life moments that should send you back to your estate plan

The most common estate plan in America is an out-of-date one. People do the responsible thing once (sign the will, breathe the sigh of relief) and then life keeps moving while the documents stand still. A decade later the will names a guardian for a child who now has a mortgage, or leaves everything to a spouse who is now an ex. Here are the eight moments that should prompt a look. The good news is that a look usually takes ten minutes.

1. Marriage or a new partnership

Marriage changes what your spouse inherits by default, but usually not everything, and not the way you'd assume. If you've partnered without marrying, the default is starker: the law may give your partner nothing at all unless your documents say otherwise.

2. Divorce

Most states automatically cut an ex-spouse out of an old will after the decree. But 'most' and 'automatically' are doing heavy lifting in that sentence, and beneficiary forms on retirement accounts often survive untouched. After a divorce, review everything with a name on it.

3. A child arrives

A birth or adoption is the loudest signal of all. Guardianship nominations, a children's trust so an inheritance isn't handed over on an eighteenth birthday, new beneficiary math: all of it stems from one new person.

4. A death in the family

If someone named in your plan (an heir, a guardian, your personal representative) has died, the backup provisions are now doing the work. Make sure you actually chose the backups on duty.

5. A move to another state

Plans generally travel, but state rules about witnesses, spousal shares, and medical directives differ enough that a review after any move between states is cheap insurance. (New Colorado neighbors: welcome, and yes, we do this review free for plans we didn't draft, too.)

6. Buying a home

A home is the asset probate handles most slowly and publicly. Buying one is the classic moment a will-based plan grows into a trust-based one. If you already have a trust, the new house needs to be deeded into it, or the trust can't do its job.

7. A real change in what you own

A business started, an inheritance received, retirement accounts that quietly tripled. When the size or shape of the estate changes, the plan's assumptions deserve a fresh look.

8. Time itself

No event, just years. Every three to five, pull out the binder, read the one-page summary, and ask a single question: are these still the right people? Most of the time the answer is yes, and you're done before the coffee cools. That ten-minute habit is the whole secret of families whose plans actually work.

Notes from the firm are general information, not legal advice, and reading them doesn't create an attorney-client relationship.

Another note: What actually happens in your first meeting with a family lawyer →