When it comes to estate planning, people make mistakes most commonly in one of two areas: First, they fail to have any kind of estate plan at all. Secondly, once they have a plan, they forget about it.
An estate plan is not a static document because life isn't static. Circumstances change. Asset values go up or, as is more common in recent years, down. Divorces, remarriages, new children, deaths, selling assets, buying new assets -- all of these things can make the best estate plan meaningless. An outdated estate plan can leave your family vulnerable, unable to pay estate taxes, for example, or even unable to pay funeral expenses because of lack of liquidity.
Any time you have a change in your life you should review your estate plan. If this is done periodically, the changes will be minimal, but the savings, not only in dollars but in hurt feelings and even breaking up of a family, can be huge.
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