Like many people, I had been putting off creating my will. I was 33 years old, I had young children and had no will. I was 10 years into a career as a financial advisor, yet I had not taken the time to act on my own advice to have a will done. One day, after witnessing an event that made me deeply consider my own mortality, I decided it was time I stopped procrastinating. I now had a family to take care of, I needed a will. I contacted an attorney and my wife and I sat down to discuss the decisions that needed to be made. A short time later we had our wills completed and signed. That was 9 year ago.
I routinely give people the advice to consider updating their will every 5 years, and guess what? Here I am once again in violation of my own advice! So right now I am going to pause my writing of this article and I am going to send an email to an attorney to get the process started. Please don't go anywhere, I'll be right back...... There, done. I emailed my attorney and told her that I'll be sending copies of my existing estate planning documents to her for her review along with some changes my wife and I would like to make. Other than taking my own advice, why am I updating my will? Here are three reasons I discovered after I reviewed my own will:
1.
Our children are growing older: When my wife and I first completed our will 9 years ago, we only had 3 children. Now we have 4. The kids were all very young, now they are older and approaching the age of attending college. The choices we made to name a guardian was at a time when our kids would have needed lots of time and energy in order to care for them. They are all older now and would require much less supervision. We may want to change who we named as Guardian based on this new reality.
2. We live in a different state: We have moved to a new state since we signed our original will. This means should my wife and I pass away, our estate is now governed by the laws of a state different than the state in which the documents were created. Since I am not an attorney, I don't fully know what impact that might have on our situation. It could potentially impact our power of attorney selection for our durable and health care powers of attorney. In addition, our living will needs to be updated for the state of our current residence. This will give us the best chance at having any medical procedures withheld or included according to our desires.
3. We have become more charitably inclined: Over the years, we have become more aware and willing to consider including a charitable bequest as part of our will. When we first put our wills together 9 years ago, we did not give this much thought or consideration. We may want to include a bequest to a charity now that we have a stronger interest in this area.
These are my 3 reasons in updating my will. In his book, "Provide and Protect", Charles Schultz outlines his 10 reasons for updating estate planning documents. I'm guessing one or more will apply to you. They did to me.
1. New Children, Grandchildren or Other Heirs
2. Move to a Different State
3. Sale or Purchase of a Major Asset
4. Reaching age 70 1/2
5. Your Selected Beneficiary is Deceased
6. Divorce or Remarriage
7. Substantial Change in Value of Your Assets
8. Adding a Major Property to a Living Trust
9. Selected Executor or Trustee Not Available
10. Passage of Time (recommendation to consider an update to estate plan every 3-5 years.)
If any of the 10 items listed applies to you, give us a call. The Planned Giving Office of One Mission Society is ready to help you with any questions you might have. We can help you decide if an update to your estate plan is in order and connect you with competent attorneys who can help. Give us a call today!