GUARDIANS are important people – chosen to make decisions on behalf of someone unable to make them for themselves.

MANY people think of writing a will and preparing an estate plan as one and the same, but there is a crucial difference.

NEW Year resolutions are made, and as we all know, often swiftly broken.

Why do we make them if we know we will set them aside so quickly? Usually, because they are unrealistic and require too much commitment to change too quickly.

People always say, “You can’t take it with you.” So everything you accumulate in this life has to stay here once you’re gone. That’s why many people trust an estate planning attorney to help them create a will wherein all of their belongs and assets are bequeathed to the people they love and care about in the event of their death. If, however, your loved one dies intestate – or without a will or estate plan of some sort – the estate will go into probate and you might be struggling to figure out what to do.

When you hear the words “estate planning” your mind probably goes immediately to will-writing. And that’s not an incorrect assumption, your will is one of the main components of your estate plan and a central focus of this important legal document. However, there is more involved in estate planning that just writing down a list of how your assets get distributed after your death. There are several other elements that go into a good estate plan and you’ll want to include all of them to have a fully comprehensive document that describes your wishes for your wealth and your care in the event of a worst-case scenario.

Your life isn’t one static trajectory, so why should your estate plan be? Outside of not writing a will or any advance directive at all, the most common error made in estate planning is the failure to periodically update legal directives as momentous events occur over the course of a lifetime. And, although your life may present you with circumstances that extend far beyond the following list, it may be useful to know that these are the life events that should prompt the consideration of a change to your estate plan.