A majority of families wealthy enough to
have their own financial offices may have estate plans that are sorely out of
date, according to a survey by Rothstein Kass, a leading national professional
services firm providing accounting, auditing and tax services.
An estate plan is a living
document. It has to be. After all, you’re a living person.
Unfortunately, Congress and the
White House are constantly shifting. As a result, your estate plan must adapt,
improvise and overcome. For wealthy families in particular, many of their
estate plans are simply out of date, and that’s not something you can afford to
let slide.
According to a Private Wealth article titled, “Estate Plans Of Rich Families Out Of Date,
Survey Says,” and a study conducted by Rothstein Krass, “More than
three quarters of the estate plans of the ultra-wealthy clients studied were at
least three years old despite the fact that nearly 95% of them have experienced
significant life changes since the estate plans were drawn up.” However you
spin that finding, it’s a sad state of affairs for many families, and your
family need not become part of that sad statistic.
Simply put, if your life (or the
lives of your loved ones) changes, for better or worse, you need to adjust your
estate planning accordingly. The past few years have been devastating to
families building wealth between generations and to families working hard to
build wealth in this generation. As a result, just about every family needs to
make some adjustments in its estate planning.
For more information on estate planning and elder law issues, please visit our website, sign up for our free monthly e-newsletters or read our past blog posts.
Reference: Private Wealth
(September 25, 2012) “Estate Plans Of Rich Families Out Of Date,
Survey Says”