When Should You Update Your Estate Plan?
An estate plan can be properly signed and still stop matching the life of the person who made it. The documents may name someone who has died, refer to property that was sold, or assume a family situation that no longer exists.
That does not mean every change requires an entirely new plan. It does mean the plan deserves another look.
What kinds of changes matter?
Marriage, divorce, a birth, a death, or a significant change in someone’s health can affect the questions the plan needs to answer. Moving to another state or acquiring different property can also create issues worth reviewing with an attorney.
Consider a parent whose will names a sibling to handle the estate. If that sibling has developed serious health problems, the choice may no longer be practical even though the parent’s intended gifts are unchanged.
Should you review more than the will?
Yes. The will does not necessarily control a retirement account, insurance policy, jointly owned property, or assets held in a trust. Those arrangements should be checked alongside the will.
Someone may update a will to name a different recipient while leaving an old beneficiary designation in place. Reviewing the documents together helps reveal that kind of mismatch.
The same practical review should include the people named to act during incapacity. Are their contact details current? Are they still willing and able to serve? Do the documents address a replacement if the first person cannot act?
Can you just write changes on the document?
That should not be treated as a reliable way to amend a will. Iowa Code section 633.279 sets execution requirements for wills and codicils, and section 633.284 governs revocation and revival. An informal note can create questions about what was intended and whether the legal requirements were met.
Bring the signed documents and a list of the desired changes to the attorney reviewing the plan. Include account information and beneficiary records so the review is based on what actually exists.
A review is useful even if it ends with the conclusion that nothing needs to change. The goal is to know that the documents still fit, rather than assuming they do because they once did.
Tyler ThompsonAuthor