Mountain sunrise

Far be it from us to suggest what your New Year’s resolutions should be, or whether you should make them at all. Instead, take a look at these 10 useful reminders and make a decision today regarding what you might do about each.


1. Check the date of your most recent estate plan review or revision.



Make a list of things that have happened since then that might affect your plan, and take appropriate action.




  • Changes in income or asset value

  • Business purchase or sale

  • Change in marital status

  • Birth or death in the family

  • Retirement

  • Change in health

  • Move to another state

  • New interests



2. Check your beneficiary designations.



When it comes time for your insurance company or retirement account to pay death benefits or make a distribution, it doesn’t matter what your will says, what your spouse says, or what your trustee says: The beneficiary designation on a life insurance policy, IRA or 401(k) account trumps them all.




3. Take a fresh look at your fiduciaries:



personal representative, trustee, health care power of attorney, general power of attorney, guardians for minor children. Are they still the right people to assume the responsibilities that you intend for them? Your ideal choice five years ago may not be the right candidate today.




4. If you haven’t created powers of attorney, consider whether now is the time



(it probably is). Powers of attorney come in different forms – e.g., durable power of attorney and health care power of attorney. They are important and potent tools, and you should be very discerning with respect to the persons to whom you grant that power.




5. Have your kids turned 18?



If your new adult child were to become hospitalized and incapacitated without having medical and financial powers of attorney in place, you would have no clear way to be informed of their medical condition, make medical decisions on their behalf, or access insurance policies and bank accounts to pay their medical bills.




6. Does a will continue to meet your needs? Is a trust a better option?



If privacy, probate avoidance, smooth transitions of property ownership, special needs, or the size and makeup of your estate and heirs have become important considerations in your planning, a revocable trust might serve you more effectively than your simple will.




7. Take a fresh look at your living will.



It states your wishes about medical care in the event that you become terminally and incurably ill or can no longer make your own medical decisions, and it provides guidance regarding your wishes to your designated health care agent. Do your advance directives and other instructions regarding medical care and end-of-life decisions still reflect your wishes?




8. Consider your life insurance.



Do your current death benefits meet your survivors’ needs? Do you have the right mix of whole life and term policies? Do you need to increase your death benefit? Or have you reached the age where you can you scale back your life insurance portfolio?




9. Has your trust been fully and properly “funded”?



Does your trust own all of your major assets, or have you bought things and kept them in your name? Has any asset been left out of the trust, exposing them to probate or ownership challenges? In general, the way your assets are “titled” should be adequate to avoid probate and convey ownership to the beneficiaries of your choosing.




10. Some of your assets are “


digital




– online banking and investment accounts, social media, etc., and have log-in credentials. Your will, trust, or power of attorney should designate who has access to your digital assets and what will happen to your digital assets upon your death or incapacity. If such a designation is not properly outlined in your estate planning documents, your appointed fiduciary may have little or no access to some of your most valuable property.





After you have selected your action items for 2022, set a target date for taking the appropriate action. If anything requires legal assistance, call



Ron Adams



or



Ryan Scharber



and schedule your appointment (480-345-8845).