Down Economy? Update Your Estate Plan!

With the down economy Michiganders and the rest of the nation faces, it is important to review your last will and testament, your revocable living trust, and your designated beneficiaries to make sure they still make logical sense.

Why? Because when your estate plan was created, most likely, you had more assets then you currently do. For example, maybe in your revocable living trust you made a $10,000 gift to the Michigan Humane Society or your church. Well, now that your overall portfolio is down, that $10,000 gift may be a larger percentage of your estate than you had really planned and you would like to see more left to your children instead.

Another reason you need to review your estate plan (wills, trusts, beneficiary designations of accounts and life insurance), is because of the Federal Estate Taxes.  With no change on the Federal Estate Tax exemption amounts on the books yet and a down economy, maybe your estate plan tried to plan around the Federal Estate Taxes at a certain exemption amount.  Well with the depressed economy, maybe you are nowhere near the Federal Exemption amount (this year $3.5 million).  Well, it might make sense to simplify your trust based estate plan now so that the administration is easier for the beneficiaries.

Our office recommend annual meetings to review estate plans.  The economy is just one of the reasons an annual review with your Michigan estate planning lawyer make sense.

Christopher J. Berry, Esq., A Bloomfield Hills Trusts and Wills Attorney, is a Partner with The Law Offices of Witzke Berry PLLC, which practices in the areas of Estate Planning, Trusts and Estates, and Michigan Probate Litigation.