Texas residents like you have a lot of ground to cover when working out your estate plan. Creating the first draft often takes many months to perfect. After you finish, it may feel tempting to leave it as-is.
But you must update your estate plan somewhat frequently. Why? Because it needs to reflect your life in an accurate way. This means updating it whenever you face big life changes.
Life changes require estate plan changes
Forbes looks at some of the most common times to update an estate plan. This includes major changes to finances, family structure, and living arrangements. Financial situations can change at the drop of a hat. You may come into more money via inheritance. You may lose money and fall into a debt. You might have to file for bankruptcy. If any of these changes happen, it affects your assets. You want to give away what you have, which means your estate plan must reflect what you have.
Changes in family and living arrangements
Changes to family structure includes divorces and marriages. It includes re-marriages as well. Also, it includes adding children to the family via adoption or natural birth. In some cases, it can also include discovering that a family member is special needs. Again, you want to ensure that the people you want get what you leave them. This means keeping the list of who gets what up to date.
Finally, living arrangements may affect estate plans. Do you plan on moving to another city or state? They could have different laws governing the arrangements there. You will likely want to check the local laws and see if your estate plan needs any rewriting.