Review your estate planning documents

A recent client of mine had an existing estate plan that he and his wife had prepared decades before.  I have changed the details, but the substance is the same.

He wanted to make changes to his estate plan.  He thought that under his current estate plan, he was giving his baseball memorabilia to his brother and his jewelry to his nephew.  He decided now that instead wanted everything to go to charity.

When I reviewed his estate plan, I found that his estate plan didn’t say any of that!

He had used a mail-order estate planning service, similar to many internet services of today.  There were documents he had sent to the mail-order service, and those documents said what he wanted, but his wishes hadn’t been incorporated into his estate plan.

The lesson here is that even if you already have an estate plan, read through it, and ensure that what you want is going to who you want.  You only have one legacy.  Be sure to secure it properly.