Why Estate Planning Is Not 'Set and Forget'

If you get married, any previous wills you had are automatically void – that’s pretty huge.

I follow an estate planning lawyer on social media, and she (basically at the same table) signed her wedding certificate, and signed her updated will; she had it already prepared and signed it straight away. That’s pretty nuts.

Also, if you get into a de-facto relationship, your wills and estate planning need to be updated. If you get divorced, or if you go through a relationship breakdown, you also need to reconsider your estate planning because it’s probably not going to be appropriate.

If you get sick, or if you get COVID, you do need to get that stuff sorted. The same goes for If you have a baby. All these things might not mean you need to do the process again, but you need to check it’s still appropriate. So if you know you’re going to have kids in the future, we can set up the wills so that it accounts for that. We don’t need to mention their exact names, but if you have a child, make sure it still makes sense.

It’s also beneficial to review your wills and estate planning before you travel. We’ve had clients who have planned a pretty extensive trip, or they might be going to some questionable countries, and so they might sort that stuff out before they leave.

If you inherit money, or you increase your wealth a fair bit; let’s say when you do your wills initially, your balance sheet might look like $500,00, then a few years later, it might be $1,000,000, you do need to make sure that your estate planning keeps up with your wealth, and your structures as well.

And lastly, if time passes, you still need to check this stuff. I recommend you review this every three years or so to ensure it’s still relevant.

Learn more in our next Wealth for Life workshop (next year) at https://info.inspire.business/wealthforlife