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The most common estate plan in America is an out-of-date one.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, and 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,' 'automatically,' and 'usually' 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 single loudest signal. 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 interstate move 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 graduates into a trust-based one — and 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 meaningful 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? Ninety percent of the time the answer is yes, and you're done before the coffee cools. That ten-minute habit is the entire 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 →