Last year, I moved twice.

After many years in Riverside, my partner and I relocated to the Fresno area. Anyone who has moved recently knows what that means: boxes, address changes, decisions about what to keep and what to give away, and the inevitable discovery of things you had completely forgotten you owned.

Doing it twice gave me more experience with moving than I particularly wanted. It also made me think about estate planning after a move and some of the advice I have given clients over the years.

Creating an estate plan is important. But signing the documents is not the end of the process. Your estate plan needs to keep up with your life.

Where Are Your Original Estate Planning Documents?

There is nothing quite like packing up a house to make you realize how many important papers you have accumulated.

As an estate planning attorney, I knew where my important documents were. But moving them still made me think about how often, after someone dies or becomes incapacitated, a family member tells me, “I know she had a trust. I just don’t know where it is.” Sometimes, we can track down copies of the documents if we can identify the attorney who prepared them. Other times, there simply isn’t enough information, time, or resources to find them.

If you have a Trust, Will, Healthcare Power of Attorney, Living Will, HIPAA Authorization and Durable Power of Attorney for financial matters, do you know where the originals are?

Just as importantly, does anyone else?

Your successor trustee and the people you have designated to act for you do not necessarily need copies of everything today. But someone you trust should know where your estate planning documents can be found if you are unable to tell them.

Did Everything That Was Supposed to Move Actually Move?

Critical Reminder:  Don’t forget to fund that new house into your trust!

Sometimes, we can track down copies of the documents if we can identify the attorney who prepared them. Other times, there simply isn’t enough information, time, or resources to find them.

Anyone who has moved knows the feeling: you arrive at the new house and eventually realize that something you expected to be there isn’t.

There is an estate planning equivalent.

A revocable living trust can be carefully drafted and properly signed, but the trust only accomplishes its intended purpose if assets are properly coordinated with it.

Real property is the most obvious example. If you buy a new home after establishing your trust, how is title held? If you refinance, was the property properly returned to the trust afterward? If you open a new financial account, how does that account fit into your estate plan?

We call this trust funding, and it is one of the least glamorous—but most important—parts of trust planning.

A beautifully drafted trust cannot control an asset that never made it into the plan.

Moving Makes You Realize How Much You Own

I am not talking only about valuable property.

Moving means dealing with furniture, photographs, dishes, books, clothing, jewelry, keepsakes and all the other things accumulated over a lifetime.

Most of those items will never appear on a financial statement. Some may have little monetary value. But that does not mean they have no significance to your family.

In fact, in my experience, tangible personal property can sometimes create more emotion than substantially more valuable financial assets.

Who gets Mom’s jewelry? What happens to family photographs? Is there a particular piece of furniture one child has always expected to receive?

Not every household item needs to be specifically addressed in an estate plan. But if there are particular possessions that matter to you—or that you know will matter to your family—it is worth discussing how they should be handled.

A Change of Address Is a Good Time for an Estate Plan Checkup

Moving requires an astonishing number of updates. Banks. Insurance companies. Driver’s licenses. Doctors. Credit cards. Utilities. Subscriptions. The list seems endless.

Your estate plan deserves a place on that list.

An old address generally does not invalidate an otherwise valid estate planning document. But a move is a useful reminder to pull out the documents and look at them again.

Are the people you selected as successor trustees still the right people? What about the agents under your Powers of Attorney? Have there been births, deaths, marriages or divorces? Have your assets changed? Have you bought or sold real property?

The important question is not simply whether the address on the first page is current.

The question is whether the plan still reflects your life today.

My Own Geography Changed, Too

My moves changed more than my address.

Riverside was my home for many years and remains an important part of my professional life. The Law Office of Maureen Lyons, PC continues to work with clients in Riverside and throughout Southern California.

Now, living in the Fresno area has given me a new community to call home and has given me a firsthand appreciation for another part of California.

One thing that did not change was my practice. California estate planning does not stop at a county line, and technology has changed the way attorneys and clients can work together. I continue to work with California families on their estate planning needs while maintaining my longstanding connection to Riverside and developing new connections in the Central Valley.

Sometimes a Move Is More Than a Move

Major life changes have a way of exposing things we have put off.

A move may be the reason you finally clean out the garage, organize years of photographs, find a box you haven’t opened in a decade—or pull out an estate plan you haven’t looked at for almost as long.

You do not need to revise an estate plan every time something in your life changes. But major transitions are good opportunities to ask whether the plan you created years ago is still the plan you would create today.

After two moves, I can say from experience: it is much easier to decide what should go where before someone else has to figure it out for you.

If a move or another significant life change has you wondering whether your estate plan still reflects your circumstances and wishes, The Law Office of Maureen Lyons, PC can help you review your existing plan and determine whether updates are appropriate.