Updating and Neglecting Your Living Trust

Your living trust is your security blanket for the future. It can keep your family out of Arizona probate court, provide for your family, protect family assets, remain generous to charities, care for your pets, or support your grandchildren through college. The possibilities for your living trust are truly endless, if that trust is not only written up by a professional, but updated often.

Forgotten Trusts

All too often I meet with clients once in a lifetime. It’s just one or two meetings to write up their Gilbert living trust and secure their future, for now. As soon as I walk out of their door, that trust goes into a safety deposit box or fire safe box and is completely forgotten about. It sits there, collecting dust, and with each passing year becoming more and more irrelevant.

Your Gilbert living trust must be updated consistently. I like to meet with clients once a year to review their assets and make sure that their trust still accounts for everything. Below is a list of questions you should be asking yourself when consider whether or not to update your living trust:

-Have you made new investments in the past year? Bought a new home? Summer vacation condo?
-Is there a new member in your family? Perhaps a new little one? Maybe a new hope for college tuition?
-Has your favorite charity changed within the past year? Are you now donating more to charity A than charity B?
-Any new pets that will need to be looked after when you are no longer around?
-Have any Arizona living trust laws been changed in the past year? Have estate taxes changed? Has congress passed a new tax act? Has Arizona passed a new tax act?
-Have you accrued new debt in the past year?
-Has your trustee changed? This is probably the most common source of stress for those creating a living trust. The trustee must be an incredibly responsible individual, and if, over time, that appointed trustee begins to show signs of irresponsibility, it’s best to reassign that role to someone else in the family.
-Has there been a marriage, divorce or death in the family?

There are hundreds of things to consider when writing up your first Gilbert living trust, and there are a hundred more things to consider updating and changing as time goes on. Don’t fall into the rut of forgetting about your trust as it sits in the safety deposit box. This is one of the most important legal things that you can do for your family before you pass on.

Need Help?

If you are not sure as to what legal document you currently have contact one of our professionals to help you with your estate planning. They will make sure you have all of your grounds covered and have the right legal documents that best suite your wants and needs.