When you create an estate plan, the attorney who drafted it for you, will likely remind you to review the estate plan from time to time and make changes. This often prompts clients to ask exactly when they need to do that. The common answer is that you should review and make changes to your plan, whenever you have a significant change in life circumstances.

That is the legally appropriate answer. However, the answer also invites questions about what constitutes a significant change in life circumstances. There is a simpler way to look at this, as the Dover Post discusses in “Change plan as plans change.”

A significant change in life circumstances includes things like getting married, having children, changing jobs, a death in the family or a divorce. However, that is not a comprehensive list, because a comprehensive list of every significant thing that could happen is not possible to make.

All those things have something in common. They ordinarily cause people to make significant changes to their life. If you get married, the path you plan for your life will change.

If you keep that in mind, you do not need to worry about a list of significant changes in life circumstances. Just remember to go back to your estate planning attorney, when you change plans for your life.

Reference: Dover Post (April 17, 2018) “Change plan as plans change.”