4th Quarter Review – An Estate Planning Checklist
While I thoroughly enjoy football, I have no idea how to plan the game winning play. What I do know is that we are in the fourth quarter of the calendar year and it is time to consider your personal game plan. During the past 20 months, many of us have had to unintentionally evaluate our personal game plan due to the onset of medical issues, staying at home, changes in jobs or just general changes. I am optimistic that rather than looking at every situation through the lens of a crisis, we should take a breath, and be more strategic with our personal planning. As practitioners, we have been responding to clients, on an almost daily basis, who have been confronted with emergency planning situations or are considering the “what if” or “what happens if the unthinkable occurs.” If you have not reviewed your game plan in a while, this is the right time to make sure everything is in order.
Following is a brief personal and estate planning checklist for you to consider as we start the final quarter of the year:
Do you have the basic estate planning documents, including a Will, Powers of Attorney and Medical Directives? When did you last review the documents? It may be time to dust off the documents and update them.
Has your financial and/or family situation changed since the basic documents were drafted? Have you had more children, grandchildren, marriages, divorces, deaths and has your financial situation changed so that more planning is needed?
Identify who you would like to leave your estate to; do any of your family members have an identified long-term disability or special needs? Are trusts needed to protect your beneficiaries?
Take the time to prepare a list of assets; are the beneficiary designations correct on retirement accounts or life insurance policies?
Who have you named as your Personal Representatives, Trustees, Guardians (do you still need to designate Guardians), and Attorneys in Fact for Powers of Attorney, and Agents for the Medical Directives?
Have you made a separate list of all of your passwords so your fiduciaries can access your information?
Do you want to consider gifts to charities?
Have you purchased a winter residence in another state?
Are all of your assets transferred and funded into your Revocable Trust?
Have you completed the list of personal property or are you relying on your family getting along when it is time to distribute the cherished items from your personal property?
Check with your team of professionals, including your attorney, accountant and financial planner to review your plans.
A Will may have been initially sufficient and met your estate planning goals and objectives, but now you own a winter home in California and a primary residence in Minnesota. Surely, you would not want to go through probate proceedings in both Minnesota and California. In many circumstances, including this example, it is time to consider a Revocable Trust, Will and supporting documents.
The above list is not all inclusive, but certainly identifies areas to consider. Coupled with all of the items on the checklist is the continued uncertainty about the pending changes to our State and Federal estate tax laws and supporting regulations. It is highly likely that the overall exemption at the Federal level will be reduced, but when and how much is still to be determined.
We have always known that we do not know what tomorrow will bring, but the past 20 plus months have heightened that awareness. I encourage you to take the time to review your estate planning documents, consider your legacy and create your own checklist.
Our estate planning attorneys at Bernick Lifson, Sally Forbes Friedman and Richard Bunin, are available to coordinate and work with your team of professionals to evaluate, update and prepare your estate planning documents. We have returned to the office and are available to meet with you, subject to our COVID protocols. Call or email us at:
Sally Forbes Friedman sfriedman@bernicklifson.com
Richard Bunin rbunin@bernicklifson.com
