How Often Should You Update Your Estate Plan?

TL;DR Summary: In California, a well-crafted estate plan shouldn’t be “set and forget.” Following the “Rule of 5s” means you should review your estate plan every 5 years OR whenever one of 5 major life changes occurs. This helps make sure your wishes, your finances, and California law are all aligned with your current reality.

If you’ve ever created an estate plan, trust, will, powers of attorney, health directive, etc., congratulations! You’re already ahead of most Californians. But here’s the truth: your estate plan isn’t a one-and-done document. It’s a living legal framework that needs maintenance.

At Goff Legal, our attorneys are often asked, “How often should you update your estate plan?” Here in California, we follow something we call the Rule of 5s, a simple, human-friendly guideline:

Review your estate plan every 5 years, OR any time one of 5 major changes occurs.

It’s memorable, practical, and most importantly, it works. Let’s break it down.

The “Every 5 Years” Part of the Rule

You should proactively review your estate plan every 5 years because:

• Laws change
• Tax rules change
• Family dynamics change
• Assets change
• Your goals change

Even if you haven’t experienced major life changes, the legal landscape has.

Here’s a real-world comparison:

Imagine you bought a car in 2010 and never serviced it. Never changed the oil. Never updated the registration. Never checked the tires.

Would you expect it to run perfectly today? Your estate plan works the same way.

We’re not saying you need a full rewrite every five years, but you do need a review to confirm:

• Are your trustees and agents still correct?
• Do your documents reflect current law?
• Do they protect against modern estate threats (lawsuits, elder financial abuse, conflicts among beneficiaries)?
• Are digital assets addressed?
• Are your real estate and financial accounts properly titled?

Often, the changes are minor. Sometimes the changes are significant. But waiting 10–20 years before updating? That’s asking for avoidable problems.

The “5 Major Life Changes” Part

If any of these major life events happen, it’s time to review immediately — not five years later.

1. A Change in Marital Status

Your estate plan must be updated if you: 

• Get married
• Get divorced
• Become widowed
• Enter a new long-term partnership

Outdated documents can accidentally:

• Leave everything to an ex-spouse
• Exclude a current spouse
• Trigger probate or tax consequences
• Create disputes among heirs

This is one of the top sources of estate conflict we see in trust administration.

2. A Change in Children or Beneficiaries

If changes occur with your children or beneficiaries, you need your estate plan reviewed. For example:

• Birth or adoption of a child or grandchild
• Estrangement
• Death of a beneficiary
• Restructuring of inheritances
• Adding charitable beneficiaries
• Blended family changes

Estate planning isn’t just about distributing money — it’s about relationships, fairness, and clarity.

3. A Change in Financial Status

Maybe you:

• Acquired real estate
• Sold property
• Inherited wealth
• Started or sold a business
• Gained investment value
• Dramatically changed net worth
• Entered retirement

Your estate plan should scale with your assets.

If your trust lists assets you no longer have, or omits assets you’ve since acquired, it may fail to properly direct distribution — causing probate for what isn’t properly titled.

4. A Change in Health

If you experience a major change in your health, it’s time to review your estate plan. This could include:

• Developing a medical condition
• Receiving a diagnosis
• Needing care assistance
• Developing cognitive concerns
• Wanting to make end-of-life changes

Your Advanced Healthcare Directive and Power of Attorney become critically important when your health declines. This is also when many clients choose to:

• Name backup decision-makers
• Add care-related instructions
• Tighten protections against elder exploitation

5. A Change in Law

California updates estate-related rules and interpretations frequently. For example:

• Property tax rules have changed
• Medi-Cal eligibility change in a BIG way as of January 1, 2026
• Federal estate tax exemptions can shift
• Inheritance rules evolve
• Trust drafting best practices evolve
• New court interpretations affect language validity

Many trusts written before 2015, and especially before 2000, simply don’t contain the modern provisions needed to protect families today.

A Practical Example: The “Oh No” Box of Estate Documents

You know the box. The one in the back of the closet. Or the filing drawer. Or the safe deposit box at the bank.

You haven’t looked at it in years. You probably don’t even remember what’s inside. Here’s the reality:

If your documents are older than your haircut in your 1990s driver’s license photo, they need an update.

We’ve seen:

• Outdated trustees
• Deceased beneficiaries
• Handwritten sticky notes added to documents (not legally relevant)
• Instructions overridden by newer but improperly titled assets
• Photocopies mistaken for originals
• Trusts unfunded entirely

It’s okay; we’re not judging. We’re just here to fix it.

Why Updating Matters (Especially in California)

Here’s what can happen with an outdated or incorrectly structured estate plan:

• Assets go through probate
• Delays tie up money for months or years
• Children or siblings fight
• An ex-spouse inherits unintentionally
• Medical decisions default to the wrong person
• Taxes become unnecessarily high
• Guardianship decisions become uncertain
• Inability to manage digital accounts or online governance

Worst of all? Your true wishes may never actually be legally recognized.

What a Typical Update Looks Like with Goff Legal

Many clients think updating will be hard. But it’s actually pretty straightforward:

1. We review your existing documents
2. We talk about what has changed
3. We make necessary revisions
4. We update titling and funding if needed
5. We help ensure successors and agents are still appropriate
6. We provide updated, organized final documents
7. We talk through next-steps and future planning

Clients tell us: “This was so much easier than I imagined.” We love hearing that.

How to Know If You’re Overdue

If any are true, it’s time to update:

• “I made my trust before I retired.”
• “I made my trust when my kids were young. Now they’re adults.”
• “My trustee is my dad. He’s gone now.”
• “My financial accounts have all changed since the plan was created.”
• “I divorced and remarried.”
• “Someone named in my documents has passed away.”
• “My property tax status changed.”
• “I don’t remember what my documents say.”
• “I don’t remember who I named as my trustees/agents.”

Your estate plan should reflect your life today, not your life from a decade ago.

The California Mindset: Plan Before You Need It

Estate planning is like insurance. You don’t update your policy right after the accident. You keep it updated before anything happens.

Your loved ones should never:

• Guess at your wishes
• Decode outdated instructions
• Wrestle with banks or courts
• Untangle conflicts
• Wish you had updated your documents earlier

A solid, current plan gives your family:

• Clarity
• Ease
• Confidence
• Direction
• Relief

Final Thoughts: The Rule of 5s Makes It Easy

You don’t need to constantly worry about your estate plan. Just remember:

Review your plan every 5 years or after one of 5 major changes.

That’s it.

Ready to Update? Talk to Us.

At Goff Legal, our experienced estate planning attorneys work with families across California who want their estate plan to be accurate, effective, and reflective of their current life; not the life they had 5, 10, or 20 years ago.

We’re a boutique, woman-owned firm that believes in developing long-term relationships with our clients and providing ongoing support through major life transitions.

If you’re not sure whether your estate plan is still current, we’ll help you find out. Contact Goff Legal today for a free discovery call.

FAQs

What if I don’t have major changes but just “feel uneasy” about my estate plan?

Trust your instinct. If something feels off, wording, beneficiaries, trustees, or your documents just seem outdated, that’s reason enough to review. It’s always better to clarify now than be sorry later.

Can I update just one part of the estate plan, or do I need to redo everything?

Often, we can update only what’s necessary. For example, a trustee designation or beneficiary list, without rewriting the entire plan. We’ll advise based on your situation.

Does transferring property into a trust need to be redone when updating the plan?

Typically, no,  as long as it’s already properly titled in the trust. But if you’ve acquired a new property or refinanced, we may need to make sure it’s correctly funded.

What if I can’t find the original signed documents?

Don’t panic. We can help you determine whether a copy is usable, whether we must restate the trust, or whether new documents need to be executed.

We named guardians for our children, but now they’re adults. What do we do?

That means your estate plan needs significant re-indexing, from asset distribution to decision-maker selection. This is extremely common, especially for parents whose “kids” are now 30-year-olds with kids of their own.