When (and How) Should You Change Your Estate Plan?

Let’s say you own your own business and have made plans to expand into a new product area. You have created all the necessary documentation and spoken to investors about obtaining the capital needed for this new product area. You have also started looking for a site for to develop and build the new product line. Everything looks like it is coming together and falling into place when all of a sudden something changes. Now what…what and how do you go about making the appropriate changes to your well thought out plans?

The law might change, and the new requirements make selling new product less viable and/or profitable.  There could be an impending recession that is gaining momentum and fewer people will want to purchase this new product. A new competitor has entered the space while you were building your plans and this is changing the way you would both build and market the new product. I could go on and on but there are many changes that can occur that could affect the launch of something new.

The specific change does not matter…what matters is that something has changed and you, as a smart business owner, now need to rethink whether you want to follow through on your previous plans and produce this new product or not. Back to the drawing board to figure out if this is still a viable option.

While all this decision-making is obvious in the business world, it may not be so obvious in your personal world. It should be the same planning and decision process whether it is for your business or for your personal life.  Sometimes you just need to change plans when the environment changes, as the Herald News points out in, "Revisiting Your Plan."

Just as we see it happening in the business world, your estate plan is also constantly changing because your life is constantly changing. There are laws that could have an impact on your estate just as much as on your business. Your goals and life circumstances also change. It would be unrealistic to not change your estate plan when these changes occur, as it would be to not change a business plan when the business environment changes.

I recommend everyone review their estate plan on an annual basis because a lot happens in a year. If you do a review of your estate plan annually you won’t miss any of these changes. The list is exhaustive of the possible changes that can occur in one’s life through the course of a year. These should be reflected in your estate plan as well. Do the checkup and keep it in sync with your life…your loved ones will appreciate well into the future.