HAVE YOU MOVED? If so, please Contact Us with you new contact information, including address, home phone, work phone, mobile phone, and email address.

NEW EMAIL ADDRESS? In an effort to improve our ability to communicate with you, please Contact Us with your email address.

CHANGES TO EXISTING PLANNING? In order to provide you with the best possible advice, it is imperative that we have your most current financial and family information.  The following is a checklist of events or circumstances that may require you to Contact Us with updated information:

• 2010 Legislative Changes now in effect may require changes to be made to your estate plan (Click here for more information).
• Privacy regulations now in effect and passed under the Health Insurance Portability and accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) may cause your health care provider to require explicit reference to these new laws in order to release confidential health care information to your family or designated health care agents. Therefore, if you have not already done so, we are recommending that updated Advance Health Care Directives be executed to solve this potential issue.
• Have there been any births, deaths, illnesses, or accidents in your family which would impact your distribution plan?
• Are the successor Trustees of your Trust and Executors of your Will all in good health and competent to serve in those capacities?
• Have all of your assets been changed to the name of the Trust and are your Schedules of Assets up to date?  Specifically, have you purchased any new property or refinanced any old property, and have deeds been prepared transferring that property into the name of the Trust? Your Schedules of Assets should be signed and dated, and should reflect a complete listing of the assets titled in the name of the Trust.
• Has the size of your estate changed due to an inheritance, a new life insurance policy, or an increase in the value of investments, etc.? (Techniques are available to further reduce or eliminate estate taxes, regardless of what the legislature decides to do these next few years.)
• Are your named attorneys-in-fact and health care agents in good health and still competent to serve in those capacities, or have those Powers of Attorney expired?
• Does your estate exceed the Applicable Exclusion Amount (AEA) for a single person or twice the AEA for a married couple under the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Act of 2001? (In 2011 the AEA will be $1,000,000.00)
• Do you have significant assets in tax deferred accounts such at 401K’s, IRA’s, etc.? If so, you should make sure you understand your options regarding beneficiary designations, and how those designations will impact the estate tax planning aspects of your trust.

If you find that changes or additions are necessary, or if you would like to discuss any aspect of your estate plan, please Contact Us to schedule an appointment for an office consultation, which will be subject to our normal office charges.