So, you’ve just finished your estate plan and you’ve got your trust safely tucked away. You feel confident now that if something happens to you everything is set up properly and your family will be secure.
Here’s why you could be sadly mistaken.
When a trust is set up there are several key things that need to be done. You need to check the beneficiary designations for your bank accounts, retirement accounts, college-savings accounts, life insurance policies and brokerage firm accounts and update them accordingly. Much too often people fail to take these steps and the result of not doing this can be disastrous.
That is why here at Morgan Law Group we have a process that will guide you through everything you need to do once your estate plan is set up. We give you instructions and reminders to make sure that you get everything in order to ensure that your assets will go to the people you choose.
Some people choose to have us do all the legwork. This means that we analyze how each of your assets are titled or designated and make sure that all the transfers are completed accurately. We prepare an asset spreadsheet confirming what you own and how it is currently held (or titled). Then we complete all of the paperwork necessary to transfer every asset and designate every beneficiary, which gives you the maximum protection possible.
Another failure in Orange County estate planning that sometimes happens to folks is that they fail to keep their designations and estate plans up to date. Life events such as birth, death, marriage and divorce can mean that your estate plan and designations need to be changed. Be sure that you have all of these things reviewed at least every three years or sooner if you experience once of these life changes, to make sure that your assets go to the people that you choose.
To avoid this, we contact our clients every three years to remind them that they need to come in and review their plan. We offer this review at no charge and we find that it gives our clients great peace of mind knowing that we are watching out for them.
If you think that you are at risk for one of these failures, please stop reading this blog right now and call us (949) 260-1400 for a free Family Wealth Planning Session. Your loved one’s financial future may be at risk.