Corliss Online Financial Mag

Formal Updating and Maintenance

Many people do not understand how an estate plan works and provides them value. Frequently we see customers who have had an estate plan done for them 20 or more years ago and it has sat on the shelf for all that time and never been touched or fully funded. Estate planning and the Estate Plan is a very dynamic process and it is an investment in your family’s future. Your Estate Plan can be impacted by many things:

• Change in your personal, family or financial situation
• Change in the tax or non-tax legal structure
• The development of new wealth preservation structures and strategies

Given this continuous process of change, your estate plan will not accomplish its purpose if it is never updated. The costs of failing to update are typically far greater than keeping your plan current. A good Estate Plan changes along with you and adapts to your changing circumstances; it meets your changing goals and keeps you in control of the process and the results.

It is not about documents — It's about results! The key to proper estate planning is clear, comprehensive, customized instructions for your own care and that of your loved ones. We find that most of our clients are served with a properly drafted estate plan backed up by our three step strategy:

• Work with counseling oriented advisors
• Establish and maintain a formal updating program
• Assure fully disclosed and controlled

To help you make sure your plan is always current, Corliss, A Law Corporation, offers The Family Estate Maintenance Program, our formal client updating process.