The start of a new year is when people swear they’ll go to the gym, organize their finances, and finally deal with that one thing they’ve been meaning to get to for years. For many, that “one thing” is their estate plan.
Estate planning is often treated as a task to be completed once and then safely forgotten. The problem is that life rarely cooperates with static documents. Families grow and change, assets are bought and sold, businesses evolve, and people named as executors, trustees, or powers of attorney may move away, retire, or become less willing (or less suitable) to act. Meanwhile, your Will remains blissfully unaware of any of this.
From a legal perspective, outdated estate documents can create very real issues. Asset ownership may no longer line up with your will, corporate or trust structures may not be addressed, and beneficiary designations may override what your estate plan says you intended. Powers of attorney—often the most overlooked documents—may no longer reflect who you would actually want making financial or personal care decisions on your behalf.
The new year is a natural checkpoint to ask a few simple questions: Does my estate plan still reflect my wishes? Do the people I’ve appointed still make sense? Does my plan still work with how my assets are structured today, not five or ten years ago? A review does not always mean a full rewrite, but small updates (by way of a codicil) can prevent ambiguity, delays, and unnecessary disputes later.
If it’s been a few years since your estate plan was prepared, or if your life has changed more than your documents have, the start of 2026 is a sensible time to revisit it. A little legal housekeeping now can spare your loved ones a great deal of confusion later—and that’s a resolution worth keeping.
Robin K. Mann, Associate Lawyer