By Attorney Suzanne R. Sayward

For many clients, signing their estate plan documents (Wills, Trusts, Powers of Attorney,

 etc.) brings a sense of relief and satisfaction in accomplishing an important life task.  However, signing the documents is often not the last task in the creation and

 implementation of an estate plan. Read on to learn about five steps that must be taken following the execution of the documents to ensure the success of your plan. 

1. Distribute copies of your health care documents.  Documents expressing wishes regarding end-of-life-care and instructions regarding medical treatment are a vital part of every estate plan.  In Massachusetts, these often consist of a Health Care Proxy and a Living Will.  A Health Care Proxy is the legal document used to appoint the people who will make health care decisions for you if you are not able to so.  The appointed individuals are called your Health Care Agents.  A Living Will is not a statutory document in Massachusetts but is often used as a way to express a person's wish that extraordinary medical measures not be used to prolong life in circumstances where death is imminent. Once signed, copies of these documents should be provided to your Health Care Agents and a copy of your Health Care Proxy should be given to your primary care physician's office as well as to any other doctors who regularly treat you. 

2. Update beneficiary designations.   While Wills and Trusts are the core of an estate plan, you will be remiss in your planning if you don't review the beneficiary designations on your life insurance, retirement accounts (IRAs, 401ks, 403bs, etc.), annuities and the like to ensure they are in accordance with the rest of your plan, and are updated when necessary.   Assets that have named beneficiaries do not pass in accordance with the terms of the owner's Will, but instead will be distributed by the life insurance company or financial institution to the people who are named as beneficiaries on the particular policy or account when the owner dies.  In my experience, it is not uncommon for clients to discover that the beneficiaries named on these assets include a former spouse or the client's parents or siblings, when the intent is that these assets pass to their current spouse, their children, or to their Trust.  Also, because there can be tax implications in connection with designating beneficiaries of qualified retirement accounts (IRAs, 401ks, etc.) and annuities, it is important to follow the recommendations of an experienced estate planning attorney when making these designations.

3. Fund your Trust!  If you take the time and trouble to create a Revocable Living Trust as part of your estate plan, then follow through and re-title your assets as directed by your estate planning attorney.  Two of the main reasons for creating Trusts include probate avoidance and estate tax savings.  However, your Trust will not achieve these goals if you do not change the ownership of your assets during your lifetime from your individual (or joint) names to the name of your Trust.  There is no question that this can be a time-consuming task since it may involve meeting with a customer service representative at the bank, calling financial institutions to determine the process for making the change, completing the paperwork, and then following up with the companies to confirm that the changes have been properly instituted.  However, these steps are essential to the success of your plan.  If you are not able to accomplish the trust funding tasks, contact your estate planning attorney to obtain assistance.  Many estate planning law firms offer trust funding services. 

4. Real Estate issues.  You may be familiar with the phrase, "all real estate is local" used by real estate brokers to remind folks that the market conditions in one town are not necessarily the same as those in the next town.  The same holds true from state to state with respect to the legal aspect of transferring real estate.  This is because local "quirks" such as deed preparation, how the transfer may impact the availability of property tax exemptions, homeowner's insurance coverage, or title insurance coverage must be considered whenever real estate is transferred.  As such, a lawyer who is licensed to practice in the state where your non-Massachusetts property is located should be engaged to prepare and record the deed and other documentation necessary for conveyance of that property into a Trust or otherwise as required by your plan.  This will sometimes cause clients to suggest that they will leave that property out of their Trust, especially if the property is not a high value asset, such as a timeshare interest or an unimproved lot of land.  This is absolutely the wrong approach.  Not only will that mean that the out-of-state property will need to be probated, it will need to be probated in the other state.  I have had situations where the cost of probating non-Massachusetts property exceeded the value of the property.  Re-titling out-of-state property into the name of the Trust will avoid the need for an out-of-state probate, and is worth the additional expense of hiring a local attorney to accomplish the conveyance.

5. Update your plan as needed.  Your estate plan is a work-in-progress because change is a fact of life.  Family members may marry, divorce, have children, become disabled, or die.  You may come into wealth, or suffer a reversal of fortune.  The tax laws will change, for better or for worse.   Your estate plan should be reviewed and updated on a regular basis to ensure that it continues to represent your wishes for yourself and your family.

I want to give a shout-out to my Dedham pals Mike and Paula whose perseverance in overcoming the trust funding challenges they encountered inspired this article - great job guys!