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Is Your Estate Plan Out of Date?
A check-up for any plan: yours, your parents’, or one that another lawyer drafted. Plans age. Laws change. Families change.
Why a plan goes stale
A plan that was right when it was signed can fail quietly. Banks begin refusing older powers of attorney. A trust built for a tax that no longer exists forces a split that no one needs. Nothing in the plan says what you want if you fall and a hospital wants to send you to a nursing facility. Most people do not find these problems until the day they matter.
The Estate Plan Review Worksheet walks you through it. Check what applies and skip what does not. Nothing you type is sent to us. If several items sound like you, we should talk.
The Estate Plan Review Worksheet
Six pages, fillable on your computer. A document check, the update dates below, six common gaps, old A/B trusts, what has changed in your life, and a funding check, with room for notes.
Fill it in with Adobe Acrobat Reader or a current Chrome, Edge or Safari browser, or print it. Please do not send account numbers or passwords.
You should update your plan if it was signed before:
Age alone does not make a document invalid, but some changes in the law make older documents harder to use.
| Document | Signed before | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| General durable power of attorney | March 22, 2012 | Ohio’s Uniform Power of Attorney Act took effect. Older forms are still valid, but banks, county Medicaid offices and nursing facilities increasingly refuse them, and a refusal can force a family into probate court. |
| General durable power of attorney | April 6, 2017 | Ohio’s statutory form now lists actions an agent may take only if you expressly authorize and initial them: creating a trust; amending, revoking or terminating a trust (even if the trust allows it); making gifts; creating or changing survivorship rights or beneficiary designations; delegating authority; waiving a joint and survivor annuity benefit; and exercising fiduciary powers you could delegate. An older form may not let your agent do what your trust expects. |
| Trust and power of attorney, together | Either date above | The two documents should work together and say the same thing. Your agent can change your trust only if the power of attorney expressly authorizes it and your trust permits it. Review them in the same sitting. |
| Revocable trust | March 22, 2019 | An arbitration clause in an Ohio trust is now enforceable against beneficiaries and trustees, and arbitration is presumed binding unless the trust says otherwise (R.C. 5802.05). It can resolve disputes over value or trustee conduct faster and for less than a court case. It is a choice, not a requirement, and it does not cover a dispute over whether the trust itself is valid. |
| Revocable trust (Missouri) | 2018 | Missouri has since widened the tools a trust can use: a trust protector or directed-trust provision; clearer power to move assets into a new trust (decanting); and updated rules for married couples who own Missouri real estate as tenants by the entirety (qualified spousal trusts). An older trust may not be able to use them without an amendment or restatement. |
The dates above are Ohio’s except where marked. If your documents were prepared for Missouri, ask us which Missouri changes apply.
Six gaps most plans have
No plan for aging in place
Most people say they want to stay home. Few plans say how. A trust that names a trustee but says nothing about home care leaves a family to default to the cheaper option, a nursing facility.
No protection against guardianship
Unless your trust says otherwise, a court-appointed guardian can exercise your rights over the trust through you. Name your preferred guardian in writing, and who you would not want.
No hospital discharge plan
Late-life decisions are often made at a bedside, under time pressure. A written goal to come home, a power of attorney that works, and an agent who knows what to ask make a difference. See our Hospital Discharge Planning tools.
Digital access that does not work
A list of passwords is useless if every login sends a code to a locked phone. Your agent needs the practical means and the legal authority.
Estrangement and separation
An estranged child is often still next of kin, and a spouse you left years ago keeps a spouse’s rights until a divorce is final. Say what you intend, in writing, while your capacity is beyond question.
No answer to the cost of care
A plan to pass assets to your children may be irrelevant if care consumes them. The plan should say how care would be paid for, and who is paid for caring.
Old “A/B” trusts
Many trusts signed before 2013 split into two parts at the first death to save Ohio estate tax. Ohio repealed its estate tax for deaths on or after January 1, 2013. If your trust forces the split by a dollar formula or a mandatory one-half, it can now cause more trouble than it prevents. If the split is by disclaimer, the survivor chooses, and it usually needs no change. The worksheet helps you tell which you have.
This page is general information, not legal advice, and it does not create an attorney-client relationship. See our disclaimer.