How do you make updates to your estate plan? Elder law attorney Steve Waltar joins Suzanne to talk about dos and don'ts.

Steve says, "Let me first start by saying what you should not do. You should not take out your original will and start crossing off, oh, this person's dead now, this is the new name. You start scratching things up — and there's been cases on this, fights on this, because sometimes you make changes to who gets what, and they will sometimes throw out the will and say, Oh, you obviously intended to throw it out. So, a much better strategy, of course, it's meet with an attorney. But I would say, review your documents, but make copies of the things you want to change. Then on the copy, you say what happened, or mark this out, something that helps process this with your attorney.

"But ideally, you will not only send the attorney a copy of that, but you'll actually meet with an attorney. And what I want to make sure is that I have an update of their assets and people. Because if someone comes in and says, Steve, I want you to change this paragraph, that's tunnel vision. That's not that helpful. Of course I can change that paragraph... But the whole point is, people don't know what they don't know. So what they should do is make sure, without messing up documents, to write down their worries, their concerns. Do a review questionnaire so that when they come in and meet with an attorney, we see the whole picture. Because I may tell them, Oh, you want to change this, but a will is not the way to do that, or Oh, you had everything on one document, but you need them separate... They don't know what they don't know."

People can be penny wise and pound foolish. "Even this week, I had a 99-year-old gentleman come in. He served in World War II. He had all these great stories. And I asked a lot of questions about the son... Like I said before, I want to know [about] the beneficiary... And after I did some analysis, I finally said, okay, I think we can just do a simple will and we could do a transfer on death deed. We don't need a trust. We don't need to get fancy... But then the the child was shocked that it was going to cost a little north of two grand to do a will and probate avoidance... Many of my clients, there's a little sticker shock, right? I mean, I did $800 trust plans, you know, 30 years ago. This was a will plan. It avoids court. You could do a will form, but it's not going to avoid court. I think someone was looking at like a dollar amount and he wasn't realizing the value. People sometimes get what they pay for.

"I like Costco, and I like the value I get. But if you buy a Michelin tire with an 80,000 mile guarantee, you could go to a discount store, go to Costco, whatever. That's the tire, right? That's a commodity. A power of attorney is not a commodity. They're all radically different. Is it immediate? Is it springing, is it a hybrid? Is it a health care one? Is it finances? Is it durable? Is it not durable? It's not like a tire. What about a will? And a will might not be the most important document. You might want it to avoid court with a transfer on death. Let alone a trust. So it's really hard to shop prices. What you should do is just do your homework when you want to do your plan, get to know some of that, ask good questions, and see if they treat you well, and hire someone you're comfortable with. Wills and estate planning is not a commodity. Thinking 'I got the lowest [price],' that's not always best. That's pretty foolish."

Visit the Legacy Estate Planning website at waltar.com for beneficial articles, resources, and webinars.

* Steve Waltar: https://www.waltar.com/our-firm/about-our-firm/

* Books: https://www.waltar.com/resources/books-published-by/

* Webinars and seminars: https://www.waltar.com/seminars/

* Find an attorney in your state at https://www.aaepa.com/

Hear more podcasts with Steve Waltar at Answers for Elders: https://answersforelders.com/tag/stephen-waltar/

Check out our affiliate podcast Alzheimer’s Speaks: https://alzheimersspeaks.com/