Annual Estate Plan Checkup Guide

By Helen Planning and checklists editor Published August 13, 2026 How we edit

A preparation aid, not legal advice. Confirm each item against the signed document, institution, court, or agency involved.

The practical effect of Annual Estate Plan Checkup depends on the controlling document, current ownership records, and applicable state law.

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Confirm the names and contact details of executors, trustees, agents, guardians, and their successors. Review births, deaths, marriages, divorces, moves, estrangement, disability, caregiving, and citizenship changes. Compare deeds and account titles with the intended will, trust, survivorship, or transfer arrangement. Obtain current beneficiary confirmations for retirement accounts, insurance, annuities, and payable-on-death accounts. Reconcile business, digital, crypto, intellectual-property, vehicle, collection, and safe-deposit records. Review debts, guarantees, taxes, insurance coverage, care costs, benefits, and charitable commitments. Confirm original-document locations and remove superseded access instructions from active files. Record the next review date and the event that would require an earlier professional review.

Evidence and next-action log
Item	Owner	Evidence or location	Next action / date

Questions that stay open

Which document, contract, court order, or statute controls?
Who has authority now, and what evidence proves it?

Risks to pause on

Acting from a document title or family recollection without checking the operative record can produce the wrong transfer or authority decision.

Annual Estate Plan Checkup Guide

Checklist workspace

Questions that stay open

Risks to pause on

Sources for current requirements