To protect yourself financially and to make sure you are fully covered, setting aside time to review your estate planning documents is imperative.  You should ideally review these documents every year or two.

You may want to considering the following:

Do you have enough life insurance coverage?  Perhaps you bought life insurance at 10 times your income 10 years ago when you had your first child.  Since then you have had two more children and have had considerable increases in wage.  Is your life insurance policy from 10 years ago still enough?

Is your beneficiary still appropriate?  Much can happen in our personal lives over the course of several years.  People die, married couples get divorced.  Perhaps you had your father as your beneficiary 10 years ago, but he has since passed away.  Maybe you had your spouse as the beneficiary but you have since divorced.  A few months ago, a wealthy man’s death made national news because he still had his ex-wife as his beneficiary.  His current wife was taking the ex-wife to court to try to get the money she claimed should rightly be hers.  The death of a loved one is hard enough on its own without fights over money.

Has your health changed significantly for the better?  If you were a smoker when you bought your life insurance policy or you were overweight and you have since stopped smoking or lost weight, for example, it may be worthwhile to get quotes for new life insurance policies to see if you can get a cheaper rate.  You may also be able to call your current insurer to see if they can give you a better rate based on your healthier lifestyle.  (Many require signed confirmation from your physician.)

While you are analzying your life insurance, you may also want to review your will and trust.  Your assets change as do your personal relationships; if there are any significant changes, you want to make sure to update the document.

One of the most responsible things you can do is to buy life insurance to protect your loved ones financially in the event of your death.  In addition, you need a will and trust to dictate who will care for your children and inherit your money.  However, once you have both of these documents in place, your job doesn’t end there.  Take some time every year or two to make sure your life insurance policy as well as your will and trust are current.

Originating post: Have You Reviewed Your Life Insurance Policy and Will Lately?

Have You Reviewed Your Life Insurance Policy and Will Lately? is a post from: The Family Wallet.

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Wills can be written by a layperson without a law degree.

Wills can be updated simply by creating a new one.

Wills become matters of public record, so all of your assets will be publicly disclosed.

The use of a will requires that your estate pass through the probate process prior to transferring your assets to your beneficiaries.

If your estate is small, probate fees may be less expensive than paying to set up a trust.

Trusts must be drafted by a lawyer.

Trusts, once formed, are an actual legal entity.

Changes in assets and beneficiaries will be made to trusts by a lawyer.

Since the formation of a trust is a private matter, your assets will usually not be available to the general public.

Assets in the trust pass to your beneficiaries at the time specified by you.

A trust allows you to name anyone as your beneficiary regardless of their relationship to you.

If you have assets in different states, a trust allows your estate to avoid passing through multiple states’ probate procedures.

A trust can be written to allow a business you own to continue operating after your death.

To work properly, you must “fund” your trust. You must change the titled owner of your assets from “John and Jane Doe” to “The Trust of John and Jane Doe.”

Trust can dictate the management of your assets in the event of a serious illness.

Deciding how you want to plan for your estate is a tough choice. There are many more things for you to weigh than the highlights listed here. After evaluating the features listed, consider consulting an attorney to help you determine which option is right for you.

Originating post: Important Facts You Should Know about Wills and Trusts

Important Facts You Should Know about Wills and Trusts is a post from: The Family Wallet.

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