The general rule
Review your plan every three to five years even if nothing seems to have changed. Laws move, institutions grow suspicious of old powers of attorney, and the people you named age along with you. Between reviews, the events below call for an immediate look.
Family changes
- Marriage or remarriage
- A new spouse has rights under Minnesota law regardless of the will. Update beneficiary designations, decide how to provide for children from a prior relationship, and consider a prenuptial agreement if there is significant separate property.
- Divorce
- Minnesota law automatically revokes provisions for a former spouse in a will, but not in every account designation or plan. Update everything, including the health care agent and attorney-in-fact.
- Birth or adoption
- Name a guardian, add the child as a beneficiary, and consider a trust to hold the inheritance until an appropriate age.
- A child reaches adulthood
- Guardianship provisions become moot; consider whether the child should now serve as a fiduciary. Remind the young adult to sign their own health care directive and power of attorney.
- Death or incapacity of someone named in the plan
- If a beneficiary, personal representative, trustee, agent, or guardian dies or can no longer serve, replace them promptly.
- A beneficiary develops special needs, addiction, or financial trouble
- An outright inheritance can cost a disabled beneficiary public benefits or be lost to creditors. A supplemental needs trust or discretionary trust solves both.
Financial changes
- A significant increase in assets — an inheritance, business sale, or growth in retirement accounts can push an estate over the Minnesota estate tax threshold.
- Buying or selling real estate — new property must be titled in the trust or covered by a transfer-on-death deed; property in another state raises the question of ancillary probate.
- Starting or selling a business — succession, buy-sell agreements, and valuation planning belong in the estate plan.
- Retirement — rolling a 401(k) to an IRA, beginning required distributions, or converting to a Roth each affect how the account should be left.
- New life insurance — confirm the owner and beneficiary, and consider an irrevocable life insurance trust for large policies.
Changes in the law or your location
- Moving to or from Minnesota — documents generally remain valid, but state estate tax, property rules, and health care directive forms differ.
- Federal or state tax changes — exemption amounts have shifted repeatedly; a plan built around an old threshold may over- or under-plan.
- Changes to retirement account rules — the SECURE Act changed how inherited IRAs are taxed and made many older trust provisions obsolete.
Signs a plan is stale even without an event
- The power of attorney is more than five years old and a bank has hesitated to accept it.
- The people named as backups are older than the people they back up.
- The trust was signed but you cannot say which assets are titled in it.
- Beneficiary designations have not been checked since the accounts were opened.
Most updates are simple: a new beneficiary form, a codicil, or a trust amendment. The cost of updating is small next to the cost of a plan that no longer reflects your life.
Use the estate planning checklist to audit your current plan before your review meeting.
This guide is general information about Minnesota and federal law. It is not legal advice for your situation. Contact the office to discuss how these points apply to you.