There are a number of good reasons to revisit your estate plan at the end of the year. Tax planning is an obvious one. But it is not the only one.
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A story on cnbc.com says that it is important to look at any changes that have occurred in your life in the past year.
Maybe you changed your marital status, had a child or got a new grandchild. Perhaps a loved one died. Maybe your assets lost value.
If any of these things occurred, it is possible that your will, trust, power of attorney or other estate planning documents need to be changed.
You may need to update beneficiaries on accounts such as IRAs, for example.
It is also important to have your important documents housed in the state in which you reside, the story notes.
While it is a good thing to revisit these items at the end of the year, just as it is a good time to replace the battery in a smoke detector, there are some things that year’s end is actually a deadline.
Dec. 31 is the deadline for making a tax-free gift for the year 2014, for example. It is also the deadline for donating to charity if you want to declare those donations as tax deductions.
If you have questions about estate planning, feel free to call us for a consultation at (626) 696-3145.
