by Kate Maier, Central Planning, Wealth Enhancement Group

While reviewing your retirement plan, it is also a good idea to take a look at your estate plan to make sure it still aligns with your current goals. Make sure to coordinate your retirement plan and life insurance beneficiaries with the beneficiaries in your wills; to ensure that your assets end up being divided correctly among your heirs. The following are some things to consider:

• If you don’t have a will, your state’s intestacy laws determine who will receive your assets. If you are married and all of your children are also children of your spouse, then your spouse gets everything. However, if either you or your spouse have children from a previous relationship, your surviving spouse will have to share your assets with those children, regardless of their age. If you do not have children, your spouse may have to share your assets with your parents.
  

• Besides designating guardians for any minor children, wills can also be used to set up trusts and designate a trustee for assets that are passed to minor children. If no trust is set up, your children’s guardians will have to petition the courts every time they need to access money on their behalf. This can be both costly and time-consuming. In addition, if no trust is set up your children will automatically receive any inherited assets as soon as they reach age of majority, which is either 18 or 21, depending on the state. Trusts set up through a will can fix both problems as they can designate how and when your children can receive distributions. Holographic wills – wills that are written by hand and not signed by witnesses – are not valid in a majority of states. Video wills are not valid in any state. You will want to make sure, then, to have your will written by a qualified estate planning attorney and signed by at least two witnesses to ensure that it is valid.
  

• Non-probate assets, which are any assets that are either owned jointly or have designated beneficiaries such as life insurance, trusts, retirement accounts or Transfer on Death (TOD) accounts, do not pass through your will. Courts have repeatedly upheld that a person cannot change the beneficiary of non-probate assets through a will, so be sure to review your non-probate beneficiaries often to make sure you are not leaving assets to an ex-spouse or deceased beneficiary. While courts will feel bad if a current spouse and/or child cannot receive an asset that may have been intended for them, their hands will be tied and they will permit the asset to pass to the designated beneficiary.
  

• Living trusts are a good way to pass on assets after death while bypassing probate. A person can maintain control over the assets during life as well as dictate how they should be distributed after death. While being more costly than a will to set up, they may save substantial money after death by avoiding probate and attorney’s fees, especially if assets are held in a state other than your home state. If you do set up a trust, however, be sure to fund it by renaming your assets into the name of the trust. If this is not done, your trust will simply be a very expensive piece of paper while your assets end up passing through probate.

There are many things to consider while forming your estate plan. Be sure to discuss your wishes with loved ones, and have a qualified estate planning attorney draft your documents and answer any questions you may have. Neglecting just one part of your estate plan can throw away some or all of your intentions, so be sure to review your documents and beneficiaries often, especially after any big change in your life. Your heirs will thank you for it.