Your estate plan should never remain static. Ideally, you will first create this plan when you are fairly young, and you need to update your will and trust once every few years.
Life always brings new changes. As your life continues to grow and evolve, you want to make sure your loved ones will continue to have support in your estate plan. Although most legal experts recommend updating an estate plan once every three to five years to be safe, you should also revise it at these major life events.
Marriage and divorce
When you marry, you want your will to reflect your new status. This is generally the time where people create a will for the first time. You want your property and assets to go to your spouse. In the event the marriage ends, you will need to revise your estate plan again. You likely will not want your assets going to a former spouse, especially if you plan to remarry in the future.
Birth of child or adoption
You want to designate a guardian for any children you have under the age of 18 whether you give birth or adopt. Later in life, you may want to update your will again to include any grandchildren in your care.
Death of beneficiaries
Tragedy can befall anyone at any moment. You may have designated various beneficiaries such as a spouse, children or close friends in your will only for the individual to pass away before you. After you have mourned, you should revise your estate plan so that a living beneficiary can benefit from your assets.
Change in finances
You may benefit from a raise or inheritance later in life. With this new influx of money, you need to decide how to divide it between your loved ones. You may want to add beneficiaries as a result or change how much each person in your life receives.