You did your estate plan some time ago and it includes a revocable trust to avoid probate and provide for management of your estate if you become incapacitated. Depending on your plan, your trust may accomplish one or more of the following goals:
- Reduction or elimination of estate taxes.
- Management of your estate for your children while they are young.
- Allow your estate to pass to your grandchildren if any of your children don’t outlive you.
- Protect what you pass to your children from lawsuits, bankruptcy, divorces, or poor decision making.
- Preserve extra funds for a child or grandchild with a disability who receives public benefits.
That’s what estate planning is all about.
However, your trust may be out of date if any of the following has occurred:
- Your successor trustee is no longer the most appropriate person to fill this role.
- The estate tax provisions of the trust no longer work or are no longer necessary in light of federal and state tax law changes.
- A child is having marital or financial difficulties.
- A child is ill, has become disabled, or has passed away.
- You got married or divorced.
- The trust doesn’t contain the necessary provisions to accept retirement plan funds.
Some of these factors you will know. Others can only be determined by an experienced estate planning attorney. If you have a revocable trust that is more than a few years old, it makes sense to have it reviewed by the drafting attorney or another experienced estate planning attorney.