What Is a Complete Estate Plan?

Questions from Tuesday’s Word On Wealth radio show, www.KPRZ.com

Q: What is a “complete estate plan”?

By referring to a “complete estate plan” I mean the documents used to create a complete estate plan are as follows:

1 – Revocable Living Trust

2 – Will

3 – Guardian Designation

4- Financial power of attorney

5 – Healthcare power of attorney

6 – Assignment of personal property

7 – Comprehensive transfer of property

8 – Deeds to transfer real property

9 – Certification of Trust

Q: How often should I get my estate plan reviewed?

GQ: Your Estate Plan documents should typically be reviewed every 3 to 5 years. I mostly look for changes and life events. A few of the things you want to look for to consider reviewing your trust are: whether you bought or refinanced your home or modified the home loan; Whether any of the people acting as representatives in the estate plan (Will, Trust, Power of Attorney, etc.) such as the successor trustee and executor, have either become in eligible or have died.

Q: How fast can an edit of my complete estate plan be prepared?

At my office we typically allow two weeks to have your estate planning documents prepared. It is possible to do it in a much shorter time. I had a friend ask me if we could do an estate plan the next day to allow her to leave on a international trip following day. We did it. No problem! I recently had a client that needed to create an estate plan within three days. We accommodated him as well.

Hey – please remember that I am not giving legal advice here, just learning materials.

GQ