The KC Royals and Your Evolving Estate Plan: The Making of a Champion
Last April, Kansas City held a ring ceremony for the World Series Championship. For KC Royals fans, it was hard to believe. You don’t have to go back too far to remember when Royals fans were worried about losing 100 games in a season. It may not be a classic “worst-to-first” in one season story, but it is close. How times have changed that we now talk of winning 100 games in one season!
Many people are responsible for this turnaround, but the General Manager (GM), Dayton Moore, certainly had a vision to create a world championship team. He knew where he wanted to end up, but more importantly, he continually evolved the Royals team to become a championship team. There were constant adjustments made — to players, the style of baseball being played, the money spent to chase the vision — all while the baseball league continued changing around them as well.
All of us are GM’s for our own home team, and this definitely includes the estate plan we have in place to protect our loved ones and ourselves. In order to have the most effective plan possible, we need to take note of what has changed in our own lives. We also need to be aware of what is changing around us with regards to the law, and we have to continually apply what we learn to improve our existing estate plan. A fellow attorney I know summarized this as knowing what has changed in your LIFE, the LAW and what you’ve LEARNed since your last plan (either about estate planning, the law or your family). I like to think of it as evolving your estate plan because estate planning is not a one-time event. Instead, it should be viewed as a lifelong dynamic process that makes sure your existing plan still meets your current (or evolving) needs.
We review existing estate plans on a regular basis and often get asked questions about what has changed in the law. In reality, a thorough review of an existing estate plan will include what has changed in your life, and what has changed with your assets, along with a few other interactive questions we regularly use during the process. If it’s been a while since you last updated your plan (definitely if the plan is more than 5 years old), please give us a call at 913-345-2323.
We regularly provide a no-cost general review of existing plans. This is not an elaborate, time-consuming, written summary in a fancy report binder. It is a personal, verbal walk-through of your existing plan with an attorney. We will discuss potential problems or changes, and if we recommend that you evolve or update your existing plan, we’ll give you an upfront estimate of what it will cost. If your existing plan still seems to meet your current needs, we will most definitely tell you that as well. We are not looking to update plans that don’t need it.
One thing is for sure, estate plans need to evolve over time, but like the KC Royals, making strategic changes to your plan at the right time is just as important. We’d love to assist you in evolving your plan into a championship plan that protects you and your loved ones. Give us a call at 913-345-2323 to schedule a no-cost review of your plan, or read about 7 key areas to consider when deciding if your plan needs to be updated.