Life events can impact an estate plan at the drop of a hat, hence, the Law Offices of Irina Sherbak, APC strives to stay involved in the lifetime issues of our clients and their families. Likewise, tax and estate planning laws are continually updated. If you already have a trust, you may already know why it is important to review your plan on a regular basis to make sure that it takes into account any changes you or your family may have had since first creating your trust. Since our law firm focuses primarily on estate planning, we keep up on the latest planning options available, congressional rulings, and court rulings to better serve our clients and protect their estates.
If you currently don’t have a trust, there is no better time than now to start on building one. Do not be discouraged by the process, because we make it easy by explaining all of the documents, answering all of your questions and make the entire process as seamless as possible. In fact, many clients have felt very relieved after the first consultation.
If you do have an Estate Plan, do you know if it’s outdated? Answer the following yes or no questions to find out.
- Has your trust been executed prior to year 2010? If so, it may be time to review your trust structure to ensure that it satisfies your goals.
- Has it been more than 2 years since you reviewed your current estate plan?
- If you have minor children, does your estate plan name Guardians for them? If so, are you still happy with the guardian nomination?
- Since creating your estate plan, are your children now adults? It may be beneficial to name them as Health Care Agents or Trustees of your trust.
- If you have a Trust, are there any assets that have yet to be transferred into your Trust? If so, it is very important that your Trust is funded in order to avoid probate.
- Is your Power of Attorney document for financial decisions older than 5 years? If yes, this document needs to be updated to give your agent powers in the event of your incapacity.
- Is your Power of Attorney document for health care decisions older than 5 years? If yes, especially if the document was executed prior to 2004, it needs to be updated to give your health care agent powers in the event you cannot make medical decisions on your own behalf.
- Is there any personal property that you would like distributed to specific individuals that have not been clearly set forth in your planning documents, including the care of any surviving pets?
- Since signing your estate planning documents, have you been married, divorced or widowed?
- Have you had children or grandchildren since your estate planning documents were signed?
- Since signing your estate planning documents, have any of your children been married, divorced or died?
- Have you bought or sold a house or other piece of property since your planning documents were signed?