While you are sprucing up and organizing your home this spring, it is also a great time to be sure your estate plan is also in tip-top shape. 

Here are Some Tips to Spring Clean Your Estate Plan

1. Make a list of all your accounts and check ownership.

If you have a Trust, review your accounts and real property deeds to confirm accounts and property are titled in the name of your trust. Your accounts, including checking, savings, money market, and CD accounts should be titled in the name of your trust. In the alternative, you can list your Trust as the pay-on-death beneficiary. If you aren’t sure whether an account should be titled to your trust, ask your estate planning attorney. If you do not have a trust, have you designated any joint owners or beneficiaries on your accounts? Review these to ensure you know who’s listed on each account and make a note of those names and accounts in a list to keep with your estate planning documents. 

Keep a list of all your accounts, properties, policies, and assets with your estate plan. It’s also a good idea to keep a record of login and password information for your important accounts, including digital accounts.

2. Review your beneficiary designations.

Check the beneficiaries on all retirement accounts, annuities, and life insurance policies, and confirm you have both primary beneficiaries and secondary beneficiaries in place. If you see that you have named a minor child, or disabled person, or have named one person to use the funds on behalf of someone else, then touch base with your attorney. These circumstances can be problematic and require special planning. With the recent passing of the SECURE Act and SECURE Act 2.0, there are also new rules that impact beneficiaries of retirement accounts. If you haven’t spoken to your financial advisor or estate planning attorney about the SECURE Act and SECURE Act 2.0, consider doing so this spring. 

If you need to make changes, you can fill out a beneficiary form for each institution where you have eligible assets. Many institutions offer these forms online.

3. Review your designated people.

Double-check your documents to confirm who you have named to act on your behalf to handle your financial or medical decisions. Ask yourself: Is this still the person I want in this role? Are they healthy enough and do they live close enough to be able to fulfill the role well? Have you named a successor in the event the first individual were ever unable to act? 

4. Check title to your real property.

Have you bought or sold any real property? If you have a trust, check your deed to be sure the property is titled to your trust. If you have not already, let your estate planning attorney know about any change of address. 

5. Consider your pets.

Who have you named to receive or place your pets on your passing? Is that person the right fit? Will they need some funds set aside to help care for your pets in the event of your incapacity or on your passing? The cost of caring for a cat is not the same as the cost of caring for a horse. Make sure you have a plan for your pets that is current.

6. Review the testamentary provisions of your Will and/or Trust.

Your beneficiaries, or devisees, are the people or organizations you want to receive your assets once you pass away. To whom did you last list as beneficiaries of your Estate and/or Trust? Are you still happy with how you’re distributing your assets in your Will or trust? 

Here are some questions to consider:

• Are there any additional beneficiaries you’d like to include (e.g., new grandchild)?
• Is there anyone you’d like to remove (e.g., a family member who’s passed away)?
• Are there any charitable causes you care about that you’d like to add?
• Are your children older now and able to inherit outright, or perhaps you wish to leave funds to them in trust to provide creditor and/or divorce protection now.  

7. Check the date of your documents.

Estate attorneys recommend reviewing your will every three to five years, or whenever you have a big life change or event. The older the documents are, the more likely your life situation or laws have changes since you made them. It’s a good idea to review older documents with your estate planning attorney and rewrite them if warranted. 

8. Check the state in which your documents were created.

Estate laws vary by state. If you’ve moved states since creating your estate planning documents, it’s a good idea to have them reviewed by an estate planning attorney in your new state and have them updated as may be necessary. This will ensure they work as intended under the laws of your new state.

9. Discard old, revoked copies of documents.

Perhaps you updated your Will last year. Do you still have the old copy hanging around in one of your drawers or filing cabinets?

You only need to keep the most recent copy of your will and other documents. Note, if you have a Trust, you always want to keep the original and all amendments or restatements; do not toss Trust documents. Keeping old copies can cause confusion if they’re found after you pass away. If you have old copies, it’s a good idea to shred them. 

10. Schedule an estate plan review with an estate planning attorney.

This is the single best tip. An estate planning attorney will help you with all the steps necessary to review your assets, accounts, and documents, and make any updates that may be necessary to carry out your wishes to best take care of yourself and those you care about. 

In Arizona? Want to spring-clean your estate plan? Call us today at 480-922-1010 or email info@bivenslaw.com to schedule your complimentary estate planning consultation. We are here to help you craft the best estate plan and will be here for your family when the time comes to implement that plan.

-Stephanie A. Bivens, Esq., CELA