If you’ve built an estate plan, whether simple or complex, it’s built on certain goals and wishes. If any action is taken outside of the plan, involving the people/organizations named in the plan, accidentally or on purpose, your estate planning dominoes may start to collapse.
Some common reasons the dominoes may start to fall are:
- Making “the cash gift” during X’s lifetime then not changing the trust or will. That means X may get the gift twice, or your Executor/Trustee may have to engage in a legal proceeding to get that gift in the document canceled.
- Changing or not changing beneficiary designations. If your plan presupposes insurance proceeds are paid to a trust and the beneficiary is a person, those funds may not be available to be distributed per your will or trust.
- Changing to Joint Ownership. Again, your plan may be based on naming a trust or your estate as the recipient of financial accounts (bank, investment, CD, money market, etc.). If instead a joint owner is named then again, those assets could go to the survivor and may not be available to your trust/estate for your beneficiaries/devisees as laid out in your plan. For instance, if assets were supposed to go to your estate so cash gifts could be made and there are no assets that flow through your estate…yikes!
Choices were made during your planning process based on wishes and goals you chose. If those goals or wishes have changed, check-in with your estate planning attorney. Most likely the document can be changed…don’t start the dominoes falling.
If you are an existing client: https://kreillylawllc.cliogrow.com/book/b3b1f40319ac6d66fc82a09baf5709f7
If you are a potential new client: https://kreillylawllc.cliogrow.com/book/89a666f459a05018fc1e4d1bd496ec35