An estate plan reflects your life at a specific moment in time. When your life changes, the documents may not reflect your intentions anymore. In some cases, they actively work against them. Here are the situations that most commonly call for a review.
Marriage
Marriage changes almost everything in an estate plan. If you have an existing will that predates your marriage, Colorado law may not treat it the way you expect. Your new spouse may be entitled to a share of your estate regardless of what your will says. Beneficiary designations on financial accounts do not automatically update because you got married. A new marriage is almost always the right time to look at every document fresh.
Divorce
Colorado law automatically revokes gifts and fiduciary designations to a former spouse in a will executed before the divorce. That part works in your favor. What it does not do is apply to beneficiary designations on life insurance and retirement accounts. Those require you to actively change them. Plenty of people have gone through a divorce, moved on with their lives, and then discovered years later that their ex-spouse is still the beneficiary of their 401(k). The only way to fix it is to change the designation.
New children or grandchildren
The birth or adoption of a child raises immediate questions. Are they provided for? Are they named in your will or trust? If you have minor children, have you named a guardian? Guardianship designations do not update automatically with each child. If you named a guardian for one child and then had more, the designation may or may not cover all of them. It depends entirely on how the document was drafted.
Significant changes in assets
A major increase in assets, from a business sale, an inheritance, or a meaningful investment, may change what planning makes sense. What worked when you had a modest home and some savings may not work when the picture looks significantly different.
Death or incapacity of someone you named
If the person you named as executor, trustee, healthcare agent, or power of attorney has died, become incapacitated, or is simply no longer someone you would choose, your documents need updating. A plan that names someone unavailable is not really a plan.
Moving to a different state
Estate planning law varies by state. A will or trust executed in another state will generally be recognized in Colorado, but it may not work exactly as intended under Colorado law. Documents drafted elsewhere may miss Colorado-specific opportunities or create problems that a Colorado-drafted document would have avoided.
Review your estate plan every three to five years, and right away after any significant life event. The review does not always produce changes. But it tells you whether what you have still fits your life, and that is worth knowing.