Estate planning often changes after retirement because the people named in your documents, the assets you own, and your long-term-care priorities may look very different than when you first signed the plan. Rather than relying only on a fixed review schedule, New Jersey seniors should revisit a plan after meaningful changes in health, family, finances, or residence. Rice & Quattrone, PC, helps clients coordinate these changes through estate planning tailored to their current circumstances.
Review the People Named in Your Documents
An executor, trustee, financial agent, or health care representative who was a good choice years ago may no longer be the best person to serve. A named individual may have died, moved away, developed health problems, or simply be less available. Review primary and successor fiduciaries and make sure current contact information is available.
This is especially important for incapacity planning. A properly drafted power of attorney can authorize a trusted person to handle financial or other matters if you cannot act for yourself. Keeping the document and the named agents current may reduce the risk that a court-supervised guardianship becomes necessary.
Coordinate Beneficiary Designations With the Estate Plan
Retirement accounts, life insurance policies, transfer-on-death accounts, and other beneficiary-designated assets may pass outside a will. After retirement, marriage, divorce, a spouse’s death, or the birth of grandchildren, review those designations with the will and any trusts so the documents don’t point in different directions.
Asset ownership also matters. A new home, inherited property, an investment account, a business interest, or an account titled jointly with another person can change how property passes at death and how the overall plan works.
Revisit New Jersey Tax Issues Before Making Large Gifts
New Jersey no longer imposes a state estate tax on estates of people who die on or after January 1, 2018, but the state still has an inheritance tax for certain beneficiaries. The rate depends on the beneficiary’s relationship to the deceased and the amount transferred. Review current New Jersey inheritance tax rates before using gifts or beneficiary changes as a tax-planning strategy.
For example, Class C beneficiaries such as siblings generally receive an exemption on the first $25,000, after which progressive inheritance-tax rates can apply. Lifetime gifts are not automatically outside the tax rules: certain transfers made within three years of death may be presumed to have been made in contemplation of death, depending on the circumstances. Federal gift-tax rules may also need to be considered.
Add Long-Term Care and Medicaid Planning to the Review
After age 65, an estate-plan review should also consider how future long-term-care costs could affect the plan. Medicaid eligibility has separate income, resource, transfer, and estate-recovery rules, and some planning choices can affect both eligibility and what eventually passes to beneficiaries. The firm’s Medicaid eligibility and planning practice addresses these issues for New Jersey families.
This does not mean every senior needs a Medicaid trust or should transfer assets. It means long-term-care planning should be coordinated with the estate plan before making major gifts, retitling decisions, or trust changes.
Do Not Overlook Digital Assets and Online Accounts
Email, cloud storage, cryptocurrency, social media, and other digital property may require specific planning. New Jersey has adopted the Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act, which addresses when fiduciaries may obtain access to digital assets. Account-level tools, terms of service, and the language in estate-planning documents can all affect access.
Keep an inventory of important accounts and make sure the estate plan gives the appropriate fiduciary enough authority to manage digital property without placing passwords directly in a public will.
Review the Plan When Health, Family, or Finances Change
A review after age 65 is especially useful after the death or incapacity of a spouse or named fiduciary, a marriage or divorce, a move to another state, a major change in assets, a new diagnosis, or a change in long-term-care expectations. The goal is not to rewrite every document every year. It is to make sure the existing plan still reflects the people, property, and decisions that matter now.
Review Your Plan With Rice & Quattrone
Rice & Quattrone, PC, helps New Jersey families coordinate estate planning, elder law, long-term-care planning, and related tax considerations. Call the Cherry Hill office at 856-673-0048 or the Linwood office at 609-398-3447, or contact the firm online to review whether your current plan still fits your needs.