The Greek philosopher Heraclitus said, “Change is the only constant in life.”  Although this saying is often attributed to better known philosophers like Plato or Aristotle, Heraclitus gets credit for giving us this slightly oxymoronic truth.  I think we all see how this plays out in our own life’s.  We are children, grow up, become adults, and have children of our own.  Nobody really expects life to stay the same, although we sometimes try very hard to keep it that way!  I have found that as life changes, so do our priorities and what is important to us, so that we focus our time and energy on different things.  At each stage of life, having an estate plan that addresses the needs and concerns of that stage of life is important and necessary.  Needs and concerns change over time, and your estate plan needs to change right along with your life changes

Starting Off

I often joke that there was a time in life when I knew everything, and it was also when I remembered everything…I think I was about 18 at that time.  Obviously I did not know everything, but I thought I did.  It only took me a couple of years to figure out how much I did not know, but I do look back on those days and think of how much I thought I had everything all figured out, when I clearly did not.

As I grew up, I went off to college and started dating the lovely women who is now my wife.  One night, it was snowing and we decided to build a snow man.  This effort was thwarted by there not being enough snow.  Instead, we built  a snow dog, as a snow dog required much less snow.  We liked out little snow dog, but it melted the next day.  Apparently our dog made out of snow was not to last.  In the 19 and a half years we have been married, we have had three dogs as pets.  One dog passed away a few years ago, and we currently have two dogs that live with us.  Those dogs are part of our family, and we treat them as such.  In my estate plan, I even say that whoever takes my kids to raise the children has to take the dogs.  Of course, the dogs may be different dogs when I pass away than the dogs I have now, but I do want to reflect what happens to my dogs in my estate plan.

 

Growing and Changing

I also have children.  I remember when they were born, but now my oldest is 17.  I know I was  there for all of the years that the children have been growing up, but time flies by and I am not sure where all the time has gone.  I see the change quite clearly in my niece who was just under two years old when I got married.  My niece would call us “Mike and Ne” because she was not quite able to pronounce my wife Brittney’s name.  She was this cute little girl who had a pink dress and danced at our wedding.  That same niece is now 21 years old and about to graduate from college.  She is approximately six feet and seven inches tall, and she passed me up about when she was 14 years old.  I am six foot four inches tall, so I am not exactly short!  I still easily recall the time when she was so small, but that is no longer the case.

My niece is an adult, about to graduate from college, while my oldest daughter is now looking at which colleges she may want to attend.  Soon enough my oldest daughter will move away and start college without living at home.  Eventually all of our kids will move away, and we will be left alive in our house that is big enough to fit everyone.  My in-laws had five children, so they needed a big enough house to fit everyone, but now all five of their children are grown and have children of their own – and no longer live at home.  A 6 bedroom, 5 bathroom house is no longer part of what they need, and the time it takes to keep up on a big house, including cleaning all of the bedrooms and bathrooms, is no longer part of what my in-laws really want to do with their time.  Instead, they are looking a down-sizing their house to eliminate some of the chores that go into keeping up on housework.  Unlike me, my in-laws no longer have to be concerned with who would raise their children to adulthood.  Their children are grown, mine are not.  As such, my estate plan is quite concerned with who will raise my children if I and my wife pass away.  Since that is no longer a concern for my in-laws, their estate plan looks different than mine.

Slowing Down

My in-laws and my parents are reaching the age of retirement.  My father retired a few years ago, and is now living off the assets he accumulated over his decades of working.  The assets my parents accumulated over their working years are significantly more than my assets.  I was able to pay off my student loans a couple of years ago, but I am far from being in the financial situation of my parents.  My parents have enough assets to live on, and likely will have some assets to pass on to me.  Certainly they worry about running out of money, but unlike when they were first married, they do have money and assets to give away.  Their estate plan is more concerned with preserving assets for them to use in living the rest of their lives and then giving away what they have left, rather than who would raise their already grown children.  Their needs and priorities have changed over time.

Getting Older

My grandmother once had small children to worry about, but now she is at the age where she needs care from others instead of caring for her children, grandchildren, or great grandchildren.  She lives with my aunt and uncle, and they help with her care, as she needs a walker to get around and she has a tough time moving from one place to another.  My aunt and uncle are happy to care for her, but my grandmother does have difficult medical and mobility challenges.  She is more concerned with her health and surviving than anything else at this point.  Her estate planning needs focus more on how to pay for the care she needs, and does not worry at all about who will care for her children, who are the ones caring for her now.

Keeping Your Estate Plan Up With Your Current Life Circumstances

There are innumerable life circumstances and changes that happen over the course of a person’s life.  At each stage of life, having the correct estate planning documents that reflect your current life circumstances is necessary.  I sometimes encounter people who want their estate plan to reflect every possible contingency or potential change.  That is impossible, but still that is what they want.  I am not sure why someone would think that an estate plan would never need to change.  After all: Everything else in life changes.  Why would estate planning be any different?  If you would like to make an appointment to discuss your estate plan and make sure your current life circumstances are covered please click below to schedule an appointment.