Spring Cleaning Season? Don’t Forget Your Clients’ Estate Plans
Spring in Massachusetts often brings the familiar “reset” mindset. Clients are organizing finances, reviewing investments, and tackling long‑overdue to‑do lists. For us professionals, this seasonal shift presents a natural opportunity to prompt an often-overlooked conversation: estate plan maintenance. Many clients continue to view estate planning as a “one-and-done” exercise. As you know, even thoughtfully designed plans can quickly become outdated as both personal circumstances and the law evolve.
How Often Should Clients Review Their Estate Plans?
A practical rule of thumb to share with clients is a formal review every five years, even in the absence of major changes. Regular check-ins help ensure that:
- The plan continues to reflect the client’s intent
- Asset flow still aligns with overall trust, financial, and tax planning
- Documents remain coordinated with current Massachusetts and federal law
In practice, many estate plan issues do not arise from poor drafting but from failure to revisit the plan at the right time. Encourage your clients to revisit their plan sooner when any of the following occur:
- Legislative and Tax Law Changes
- Recent developments, including the SECURE Act (2019) and SECURE 2.0 (2022), have materially altered retirement distribution rules, often increasing income tax and liability exposure for beneficiaries.
- Federal estate and gift exemption changes (2026) and Massachusetts estate tax changes (2023)
These shifts can materially affect trust design and beneficiary outcomes and should trigger coordinated review across the advisory team.
- Changes in Health or Capacity
Changes affecting the client or individuals named as fiduciaries who the client is counting on, can create risk if:
- Agents are no longer capable or appropriate
- Successors are not clearly identified
- Incapacity planning is insufficient given current needs
- Financial Changes
Estate plans frequently fall out of alignment with a client’s balance sheet. Key triggers include:
- Retirement
- Inheritance
- Business sale or liquidity event
- Significant asset appreciation or concentration
These are moments where financial planning and estate planning must be realigned to avoid unintended outcomes.
- Fiduciary and Relationship Changes
Over time, executors, trustees, and agents may no longer be suitable due to:
- Aging
- Geographic distance
- Changes in family dynamics
- Evolving trustworthiness or capacity concerns
Professionals are often in the best position to identify these issues before they become administrative problems.
- Family Changes
Client life events remain one of the most common and overlooked drivers of outdated plans, including:
- Births or adoptions
- Marriages or remarriages
- Divorces or separations
- Emerging concerns about beneficiaries
Failure to update in response to these events can significantly alter outcomes at death or incapacity.
Don’t Overlook Digital Assets
One of the more common gaps in estate plans is lack of explicit authority over digital assets. As you’ve likely seen with clients, critical assets, and information now exist across:
- Online banking and investment platforms
- Email and cloud storage
- Subscription services
- Cryptocurrency holdings
If clear authorization is absent in a Will, Trust, or Power of Attorney, fiduciaries can face real barriers accessing the accounts and performing administration duties. Modern plans should include clear digital asset provisions as a standard component.
Spring Is Also an Ideal Time to Review Trust Funding
Even well-drafted plans often fail in execution due to incomplete or outdated funding. Spring reviews provide a timely opportunity to coordinate with clients to:
- Confirm titling of newly acquired assets
- Align beneficiary designations with the overall plan
- Ensure trust ownership reflects current asset structure
This is an area where collaboration between attorneys, advisors, and CPAs is particularly valuable.
Spring is more than a season of “organization”. It’s a strategic engagement window for professional advisors. Consider using this time to:
- Prompt estate plan reviews during annual client meetings
- Integrate estate plan checkpoints into financial plan updates
- Coordinate with estate planning counsel on identified issues
- Educate clients that estate planning is an ongoing process and not a completed task
By proactively raising these issues, you help clients avoid unintended consequences and reinforce your role as part of a coordinated advisory team.
