An estate plan is not a one-and-done document. It is a living instrument — a snapshot of who you are, what you have, and what you want at a particular moment. Move forward in life and the snapshot starts to drift.

Three forces drive that drift: your life changes, your assets change, and the law changes. Any one of them can quietly turn a perfectly good plan into the wrong plan.

Life changes.

The big ones are obvious in retrospect, easy to overlook in the moment. Marriages, divorces, births, deaths. A child reaches an age where the trust structure you set up no longer makes sense. A guardian you named is no longer the right person. An executor moves out of state. A beneficiary develops a substance use issue or a special needs diagnosis. A spouse is widowed and remarries. You move from New York to Florida, or from Connecticut to North Carolina.

Any of these can quietly invalidate parts of your plan. A guardian who has died is just a name on a page. A trust drafted for a six-year-old often doesn’t fit a thirty-six-year-old. A will signed in New York may need to be re-evaluated under Florida law if you’ve moved.

Asset changes.

Most plans are written around a particular set of assets — a house, a business, retirement accounts, life insurance, brokerage accounts. Acquire new assets and the plan may not reach them. Sell assets and the plan may now point to nothing. Beneficiary designations on retirement accounts and life insurance trump your will. If you change accounts and forget to update the designation, the proceeds may go somewhere your will would never have sent them.

If you have a revocable trust, every new asset you acquire needs to be considered: should this go into the trust? If so, it has to be retitled. A trust that isn’t funded with your assets does nothing.

Law changes.

Tax laws change all the time. The federal estate tax exemption has moved several times in the last twenty years. New York’s estate tax exemption is different from the federal exemption and has its own “cliff.” The federal generation-skipping transfer tax shifts. Income tax rules around retirement accounts have been rewritten more than once — the SECURE Act alone changed how many trusts handle inherited IRAs.

State law changes too. New York rewrote its power of attorney form in 2021. Old POAs are still valid — but new ones have meaningful advantages, and there are situations where the old form may not be honored. The standard healthcare proxy and living will are also updated periodically.

The dam-with-bubble-gum problem.

I describe stale plans as “a dam patched with bubble gum.” Each individual change feels small and easily ignored: a beneficiary moves; a tax law shifts; a successor trustee retires. None of them seem urgent. But the patches accumulate. The day comes when the dam has to hold — and the bubble gum is what is between the family and a flood.

The fix is simple: review your plan periodically. Most clients don’t need a full rewrite — just a check-up.

When to come back in.

A good rule of thumb: every 3-5 years, regardless. Sooner if any of these happen:

  • Marriage, divorce, or remarriage
  • Birth, adoption, or death of a child or grandchild
  • Death of a named beneficiary, executor, trustee, or guardian
  • Significant change in net worth (sale of a business, inheritance, large windfall)
  • Move to a different state
  • A child or grandchild with a substance use issue, special needs, or troubled marriage
  • A major federal or state tax law change — the law has not been quiet

Quick FAQ.

Do I need a whole new plan, or just updates? Almost always just updates. Most plans only need a codicil to the will, a fresh POA, or a beneficiary designation cleanup. We’ll tell you honestly which it is.

What does a review cost? A check-up is a fraction of the cost of a full plan. The point of staying current is not to bill clients — it’s to make sure when the plan is needed, it actually works.

How long does it take? A review is usually a 45-60 minute conversation, sometimes followed by a few small drafting changes. Not a heavy lift.

I had my plan done somewhere else — can you review it? Yes. Bring it in. We’ll review what you have, tell you what works, and only redo what needs redoing.