When to Update Your Estate Planning Documents

Once a will or trust has been signed and witnessed, it cannot validly be amended by scratching out words or adding names to it. Any amendment or change must be by a formal codicil (for wills) or an  amendment (for trusts), and must be signed and witnessed in accordance with Florida law.
 

Reviewing and Updating Due to Changing Laws

In recent years, the United States Congress has begun to enact new or amend current tax laws on an almost annual basis. The Florida State Legislature is also enacting new state laws each year in increasing numbers. Some of these laws are constantly being challenged in the courts, which then construe or interpret them in accordance with the facts of the particular case, taking into consideration the legislative history surrounding the enactment of that particular law. In this way, the courts have created, and continue to create, a body of law known as case law or decisional law, which may expand upon or limit the common understanding of a particular statute. Some of the laws being enacted or interpreted each year, whether at the federal or state level, will affect the way in which wills, trusts, powers of attorney, medical declarations, etc., are written or revised. For example, the scope and utility of a Durable Power of Attorney is still developing through decisional law and state enactments. If yours is a non-taxable estate for federal estate tax purposes, it is advisable to have your estate plan reviewed every two or three years. If you have a taxable estate for federal estate tax purposes (even though we may have made it non-taxable through planning), you should have your estate planning documents reviewed at least every other year, if not each year.

Updating Due to Life Events

Your will or trust or other documents should be updated, changed or revised when certain life events occur such as:

1. You no longer live in Florida.
2. You have a taxable estate for Federal Estate Tax purposes, and you have not been in to see your estate planning attorney in more than two years.
3. You have a non-taxable estate for Federal Estate Tax purposes, and you have not been in to see your estate planning attorney in more than three years.
4. One of the following has died or has begun to have health problems: a primary beneficiary, a contingent beneficiary, a personal representative, a trustee or successor trustee, or one of the nominated guardians for your minor child.
5. You wish to remove or disinherit as a beneficiary, a child who has offended you.
6. A child, grandchild, or great-grandchild is born.
7. You created an Estate Tax savings plan and the value of your estate has substantially declined over the years.
8. You had considered an Estate Tax savings plan, but never put one into effect, and the value of your estate has increased substantially.
9. You have received a substantial inheritance
10. One of your children (or other beneficiaries) has become disabled or incapacitated and now requires special planning considerations, such as protecting benefits, and a special needs trust or supplemental needs trust may be necessary.
11. You want to provide for a pet, since Florida has now validated ‘Pet Trusts’ (and you have one person who will act as trustee of the pet trust and a different person who is going to be responsible for the care of the pet).
12. You adopt a child or one of your beneficiaries adopts a child.
13. Your children, who were minors when your current will was executed, are now adults.
14. There has been a change in marital status or there may soon be a change: you or a beneficiary are contemplating divorce or remarriage, or are now divorced or remarried.
15. You wish to change or add to the number of beneficiaries of your estate, or wish to make a different disposition of your estate.
16. Your spouse or someone else close to you has passed away.
    
    Note: Many of the foregoing considerations also apply to the need to change, modify, or update your Durable Power of Attorney (or surrogate designation).
     

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