When Should You Update Your Estate Plan?

An estate plan is not a one-time task. The documents you sign today reflect your family, your assets, and the law as they exist right now. When any of those things change, your plan may no longer do what you intended — and in some cases, it may do the opposite.

Most Utah residents should review their estate plan every three to five years as a baseline, and immediately after any significant life event. Here is what warrants a closer look.

Marriage

Marriage is one of the most common triggers for a complete estate plan overhaul. If you had a plan before you married, it was designed around your life as a single person. Your new spouse may not be named in your documents at all, or may be named in a way that does not reflect your current intentions.

Utah's elective share statute, found at Utah Code § 75-2-202, gives a surviving spouse certain rights in a deceased spouse's estate regardless of what the will says. But elective share rights are a legal floor, not a plan. They do not replace a thoughtful, coordinated estate plan that accounts for your combined assets, your intentions toward each other, and any children from prior relationships.

New marriages are also the right time to review every beneficiary designation on file. Life insurance, retirement accounts, and transfer-on-death accounts controlled by a prior designation will pass to whoever is named on that form, regardless of your new marriage or a new will.

Divorce

Divorce triggers an automatic statutory change under Utah Code § 75-2-804: a final decree of divorce revokes any disposition or appointment of property made by a governing instrument to a former spouse, as well as any nomination of the former spouse as trustee, personal representative, or agent. In most cases, the former spouse is treated as having predeceased you.

That statutory provision handles some things automatically, but it is not a substitute for updating your documents. It does not reach beneficiary designations on retirement accounts governed by federal ERISA law — those must be updated directly with the account custodian. It also leaves your estate plan in a state that was designed around a different family structure. After a divorce, your documents need to be rebuilt from the ground up.

Having Children or Grandchildren

The birth or adoption of a child is the most urgent reason young parents create or update an estate plan. A will is the only place you can nominate a guardian for a minor child. Without one, a court makes that decision.

Beyond guardianship, the arrival of a new child also raises questions about how your trust distributes assets. If your existing trust names your children as beneficiaries but does not include after-born children by definition, a new child may not be covered. Most well-drafted trusts include language that encompasses all children born or adopted after the trust's execution, but not all do. It is worth confirming.

Grandchildren also create planning opportunities worth revisiting, particularly if generation-skipping or legacy planning is a goal.

Death of a Beneficiary, Trustee, or Agent

If a named beneficiary dies before you, your plan needs to address what happens to that share. Many trusts and wills include contingent beneficiary provisions that handle this automatically. But if the deceased beneficiary was a primary heir and the contingent plan no longer reflects your wishes, the documents need updating.

The same applies when a named trustee, successor trustee, personal representative, or agent under a power of attorney dies, becomes incapacitated, or is no longer the right person for the role. These are not just paperwork positions — they are fiduciary roles that carry real responsibility. Your plan should always name at least one backup, and that backup should be someone who is still willing and able to serve.

Significant Changes in Assets

Estate plans are designed around what you own at the time of drafting. If your asset picture has changed materially — you sold a business, purchased real property, received an inheritance, or accumulated significantly more wealth — your plan may need to be updated to reflect what you now have.

Funding is a particular concern. Real property acquired after your trust was created is not automatically in the trust. It sits in your individual name and will go through probate unless you deed it into the trust or execute a transfer-on-death deed. Every time you acquire real property in Utah, the funding step needs to happen.

For higher-net-worth estates, asset growth may also bring estate tax planning into scope. The federal estate tax exemption is currently $15 million per individual and $30 million per married couple under the One Big Beautiful Budget Act, with those figures made permanent. For most Utah families that remains well above their estate size, but growth or inheritance can change that calculus.

Moving to Utah from Another State

If you moved to Utah with estate planning documents from another state, those documents are generally valid under Utah law if they were properly executed under the laws of the state where they were created. Utah Code § 75B-2-403 addresses the validity of trust instruments executed in other jurisdictions.

That said, validity and optimization are different things. Documents drafted in another state may not take advantage of Utah's favorable trust laws, may not comply with Utah's execution formalities in ways that smooth administration, and may reference statutes or procedures from the prior state. More practically, if you own real property in Utah, it needs to be transferred into your trust under Utah's recording requirements. A review is almost always worthwhile after a move.

Changes in Federal or State Law

Tax law changes can make previously sound strategies obsolete or create new opportunities worth capturing. The OBBBA's permanent extension of the elevated federal estate tax exemption, for example, affects whether certain irrevocable gifting trusts are worth establishing. Changes to the Utah Trust Code — including the 2025 recodification to Title 75B — affect how trustees administer Utah trusts and how certain provisions are interpreted.

You do not need to track every legislative development yourself. That is what a relationship with an estate planning attorney is for. A periodic review ensures your plan reflects current law.

Estrangement or Changed Relationships

Family relationships change. A beneficiary you named years ago may now be someone you would not choose today. A trusted friend named as your agent under a power of attorney may have moved away, developed health problems, or drifted from your life. An executor who seemed like the obvious choice at the time may now have a conflict of interest.

These changes do not update themselves. The documents say what they say until you change them. If the people named in your plan are no longer the right people, that alone is a sufficient reason to revise.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does it cost to update an estate plan in Utah?

The cost depends on what needs to change. Minor amendments to an existing trust — called trust amendments or restatements — are typically less expensive than starting from scratch. A full restatement, which replaces the entire trust document while preserving the trust's legal continuity, is appropriate when substantial changes are needed. Cutler Riley charges flat fees for most estate plan updates, so you know the cost before work begins.

Do I need to re-sign my will every few years to keep it valid?

No. A properly executed will remains valid indefinitely unless you revoke it or execute a new one. The issue is not validity — it is whether the will still reflects your wishes and coordinates properly with your other documents and beneficiary designations.

My spouse and I did our estate plan together. Can one of us update it without the other?

Each spouse's will is their own document and can be revoked or replaced unilaterally at any time. A joint revocable trust is more nuanced — most joint trusts require both spouses' consent to amend while both are living, but that depends on your specific trust terms. Review the amendment provision in your trust before proceeding.

What if I just need to change one beneficiary?

A trust amendment is usually the right tool for a single change. It is a short document that modifies one specific provision without replacing the entire trust. For changes to a will, a codicil serves the same purpose, though in practice a full restatement is often cleaner when multiple provisions need updating.

Estate plans age. If yours is more than a few years old, or if your life has changed since you signed it, a review is worth scheduling. Cutler Riley, PLLC focuses exclusively on estate planning for Utah families, and we offer a free consultation to assess whether your current plan still does what you intend. Schedule yours here.