3 Questions to Ask Your Estate Planning Attorney in 2025
Your life probably changed in 2024. You may have acquired and disposed of assets or gained a new spouse and children. In 2025, you should write or update your estate plan to keep up with your life.
Your estate planning attorney will need to understand your goals and needs as you prepare an estate plan. Equally importantly, you must know how the law affects what will happen to your estate. Consider discussing the following three issues with your estate planning lawyer:
How Will Changes in the Law Affect My Estate Plan?
Many of the legal principles used in estate planning have been in practice for centuries. For example, a lot of the laws used to determine the validity of a will come from English common law.
However, other laws change frequently. Laws covering taxes and pensions change almost every tax year. Your estate planning attorney must account for the effects of both state and federal laws on estates.
Talk to your lawyer about the changes in federal estate tax and income tax laws that may affect your estate plan. Make sure you understand the limits for both the estate and gift tax exemptions so you do not inadvertently expose your estate to taxation. Ask your lawyer if your state’s had any tax law changes that affect your estate taxes.
Have Any of My Relationship Changes Affected My Estate Plan?
Your life and the relationships you have can affect your estate plan. For example, any of the following life events may require an update to your will, trust, and beneficiary designations:
- Marriage
- Divorce
- Birth or adoption of a child
- Death of an heir or beneficiary
You may also change your goals or preferences for the distribution of your property. For example, you may want to exclude one of the people you previously designated to receive property. Alternatively, perhaps you have someone new you want to include in an updated will or trust.
Review your list of devisees and trust beneficiaries and discuss adding or removing names from the list. Also, ask your lawyer to update your beneficiary designations to ensure you have the right person identified to take possession of the assets.
Finally, review the property you own jointly with another party. During this process, it’s a good idea to have your lawyer revise any deeds or titles that need updating.
In addition to amending your financial instructions, you should review your powers of attorney. Verify that the person designated to control your health and financial decisions is still who you want to take over in the event of disability.
Have Any Life Changes Affected My Estate?
Your estate planning attorney can also review your life updates apart from your family relationships. Some changes that may require you to alter your estate plan include:
- Acquiring or disposing of valuable assets
- Moving to a new state
- Incurring significant debt
- Taking out life insurance
- Opening new accounts
- Being diagnosed with a life-threatening illness or condition
Your goals or needs may have changed in 2024, and you should make sure your estate plan matches them.
Contact Us in 2025 to Discuss Your Estate Plan
You need an estate plan tailored to your life, and the experienced team at Mason Law and Planning Group can help. Contact us to discuss your estate plan and how we can help you update it for 2025.
