“You have reviewed multiple drafts of your Will, Trust, Living Will and Financial Power of Attorney, attended multiple meetings with your attorney, discussed the final distribution of your assets, selected your Executor and Trustee and finally executed your estate planning documents. So, you must be done, right?”
Putting your estate plan in place is a big first step in the process. However, it is only the first step for many people, according to this article “So You Think You’re Done with Your Estate Plan…” from the National Law Review. Here’s an excellent checklist of items that are commonly overlooked and that can undo all your good efforts.
Beneficiary Designations. These assets generally do not pass through the will, so the beneficiary named receives the asset, whether it’s proceeds from a life insurance policy or the entire contents of your investment accounts. These forms must be prepared and filed with the account custodian or the insurance company, so beneficiaries are properly identified. If you have not looked at these designations for more than a few years, it’s time to look at them again to make sure the ones you originally selected are still the ones you wish to receive your assets.
Trust Funding and Form of Ownership of Assets. You can easily wreck your entire plan by failing to fund trusts or retitle assets. If you’ve executed a Revocable Trust with probate avoidance in mind, for instance, and then fail to fund the trust, your beneficiaries will need to probate your assets. Assets owned jointly with rights of survivorship will not pass according to your will. If your estate plan was done with taxes in mind, you could put the entire plan at risk.
Talking with Family and Trusted Professionals. Having a plan no one in the family knows about, can lead to an estate disaster. Speak with family members, so they know you have an estate plan and who they should be in touch with when the time comes.
Accessibility of Estate Plan and Related Information. If your documents are locked up in a safe deposit box or an encrypted file or secure portal, no one will be able to access them. Your estate planning attorney will be able to advise you, as to the best way to ensure that paper and electronic documents are available to family and fiduciaries when needed. The same holds true for burial and health care instructions. Prepare a list with the contact information of your estate planning attorney, basic information about your assets and other information that will be needed by family and fiduciaries.
Keeping Up with Change. Tax laws change and lives change. If you have been divorced, had a serious illness, or any major change to your assets, you’ll need to speak with your estate planning attorney to see if any of those changes need to be incorporated into your estate plan.
Reference: National Law Review (Oct. 18, 2018) “So You Think You’re Done with Your Estate Plan…”
“您已審閱了您的遺囑，信託，生前遺囑和財務授權書的多份草案及與您的律師多次會面，討論了您的資產的最終如何分配，選擇了您的執行人和受託人，最後簽署了您的資產規劃文件。所以，你一定是已完成了，對不？“
制定資產計劃是這個過程中的第一大步。然而，根據 National Law Review 的這篇文章“So You Think You’re Done with Your Estate Plan…”，這只是許多人的第一步。以下這裡有一個很好的項目清單例出通常被人們忽視的地方，而這些忽視可以抵銷你所有先前的付出。
指定受益人。這些資產通常不會通過遺囑，因此指定受益人在你過世後接收資產，無論是人壽保險還是投資賬戶。這些表格必須填好並提交與賬戶託管人或保險公司，以便正確識別受益人。如果您多年沒有查看這些指定受益人名稱，則需要再次檢查，以確保您最初所選擇的人仍然是您希望獲得你資產的人。
信託基金和資產所有權的形式。如果你沒有把資產注入信託或把資產所有權改寫，你的整個計劃便會輕易地被破壞。例如，您簽好了信託本可以避免遺囑認證，可是你未能為信託注入資產，這樣您的受益人還是需要將您的資產進行遺囑認證。有自動繼承權的資產將不會根據您的遺囑分配。如果您的資產計劃是考慮稅項的情況下而做的，那麼您可能會將整個計劃置於風險之中。
與家人和值得信賴的專業人士交談。制定一個家中沒有人知道的計劃，可能導致財產災難。與家人交談，讓他們知道您有資產計劃，以及到了適當時候他們知道應該跟誰聯繫。
資產計劃可獲性及相關信息。如果您的文件被鎖在保險箱或加密文件或安全平台中，則任何人都無法獲取。您的資產規劃律師能夠為您提供建議，用最好的方式以確保在需要時向家人和受託人提供文書和電子文檔。葬禮和醫療指示也是如此。準備一份包括您的資產規劃律師的聯繫資料清單，有關您資產的基本 資料以及其他家人和受託人需要的資料。
趕上變化。稅法改變和生活改變。如果您已經離婚，患有嚴重疾病，或者您的資產發生任何重大變化，您需要與您的資產規劃律師聯繫，看看您的資產計劃是否有需要作出變更。
參考: National Law Review (Oct. 18, 2018) “So You Think You’re Done with Your Estate Plan…”
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