Missouri Estate Planning — Maintenance & Updates

Why Parents Should Update Their Estate Plan Every 3–5 Years

Estate Plan Review · Trust Updates · Beneficiary Designations · Guardian Changes · Missouri Estate Planning

Creating an estate plan is one of the most important steps a parent can take. But it is not a one-time event. The plan you signed when your children were infants may contain guardians who have since moved, trustees who are no longer appropriate, trust distribution terms that don’t fit your children’s current ages, and asset inventories that bear little resemblance to what you own today. A stale estate plan can be nearly as dangerous as having no plan at all — because it creates false confidence while leaving real gaps. This guide covers the eight most important reasons parents need to review and update their plans regularly, the events that require an immediate update, and a self-audit checklist you can use to assess your own plan right now.

The Core Principle

An estate plan is a snapshot of your family, your assets, and the law at the moment it was created. All three change continuously. Your family grows and evolves. Your assets appreciate, shift, and expand. Laws affecting estate taxes, retirement accounts, and trust administration change — sometimes dramatically — without any notice to you.

The 3–5 year review cadence exists because most families experience at least one significant change in every 3–5 year window that warrants revisiting the plan. For families with young children, the changes often come faster than that — and the consequences of outdated documents are most severe precisely when families are youngest and most financially exposed.

Eight Reasons Your Estate Plan Needs a Regular Review

Family Dynamics Have Changed

The most obvious trigger for an estate plan update is a change in your family structure. Guardians and trustees named years ago may no longer be the right choices — due to their own life changes, geographic moves, health developments, or shifts in your relationship with them. New children or adoptions create beneficiaries who aren’t named in existing documents.

Birth or adoption of additional children — new children may not be included in existing trust distributions if not explicitly added; some trusts cover “children born or adopted after” automatically while others do not — your attorney should verify which applies to your trust
Divorce or remarriage — your own or your named guardian’s; a guardian who is divorced may have a different living situation, new stepchildren, or changed financial circumstances that affect the suitability of their nomination
Death or incapacity of a named guardian or trustee — if your first-choice guardian dies and you have no backup named, Missouri law defaults to whoever petitions the court
Estrangement or relationship changes — a guardian or trustee you trusted deeply five years ago may no longer be someone you would choose today; your plan should reflect your current relationships, not historical ones
Guardian’s own major life changes — a new marriage, a cross-country move, a serious illness, or a significant financial reversal can all affect whether the person remains the right choice to raise your children

For a full guide on selecting and updating guardian nominations, see: How to Choose Guardians for Your Children Without Hurting Anyone’s Feelings

Your Children Have Grown — And Their Trust Terms Should Too

Trust provisions written when your children were infants or toddlers are almost always worth revisiting as they grow. A distribution age that made sense at the time may no longer feel right. Education funding terms drafted before you had a sense of your children’s interests and abilities may need refinement. As children move from childhood into adolescence and early adulthood, many parents find their views on inheritance management evolve significantly.

Distribution ages — many parents initially set ages like 25, 30, and 35, then find as children approach those ages that they want to adjust them based on how their children are actually developing financially and personally
Education funding terms — a trust drafted when your child was two may not contemplate private school, trade school, graduate programs, or gap years; updating the terms to reflect your current wishes prevents disputes about what the trustee is authorized to distribute
Incentive provisions — some parents add provisions tying distributions to educational achievement, employment, sobriety, or other milestones as children mature; these are difficult to draft in the abstract for a newborn but become very specific and meaningful when children are teenagers
Substance abuse protections — if a child has developed substance abuse issues, updating the trust to include spendthrift provisions and conditions on distribution protects the inheritance without disinheriting the child
Special needs adjustments — a child diagnosed with a disability after the trust was created may need a special needs sub-trust added to protect government benefit eligibility

For more on children’s trust planning: If You Have Kids, You Need a Trust — Here’s Why

Your Assets Have Grown or Changed Significantly

Estate plans drafted when a family’s net worth was modest may not contain the planning structures needed once wealth grows substantially. The plan that was perfectly appropriate at $300,000 in net worth may be inadequate at $1.5 million — or need significant restructuring above the federal estate tax exemption threshold.

Real estate purchases — each new property should be transferred into the trust; properties acquired since the trust was created may never have been funded in
Business formation or acquisition — business interests are among the most valuable and most frequently overlooked assets in trust funding; if you’ve started or acquired a business since your plan was created, the business interest may not be in the trust
Investment growth past the federal estate tax exemption — the current federal exemption is historically elevated (approximately $13.6 million per person in 2024) but is scheduled to sunset at the end of 2025 to roughly half that amount, absent Congressional action; families whose estates are approaching the post-sunset threshold should be reviewing their plans now
Inheritance receipts — if you’ve inherited assets since creating your plan, those assets need to be evaluated for trust funding and the plan may need structural updates
Life insurance coverage changes — policies added, cancelled, or changed in ownership since the plan was created may not coordinate properly with the trust’s beneficiary structure

Trust Funding Has Drifted

Even a perfectly drafted and initially well-funded trust becomes partially unfunded over time if no one actively maintains it. This is one of the most common — and most consequential — problems that a periodic estate plan review uncovers. Assets that drift outside the trust reintroduce the probate exposure the trust was designed to eliminate.

New bank and investment accounts opened for convenience outside the trust — often for a specific purpose (“we just needed a quick account”) and never retitled
Newly purchased real estate — property acquired since trust creation may have been titled individually at closing if the title company or real estate attorney wasn’t instructed to use the trust
Refinancing transactions — lenders often require property to be temporarily deeded out of the trust during a refinance; the property must be re-deeded back in after closing, and many homeowners don’t know this happened or assume the lender handled it
Business interests never assigned — a new LLC or business interest formed after the trust was created may be sitting in individual name with no assignment to the trust ever completed
Digital assets added but not planned for — cryptocurrency, online business revenue, and monetized platforms acquired in recent years may have no funding or access plan at all

See: How to Properly Fund Your Trust: The Definitive Handbook and Why Most Trusts Fail: The Shocking Truth About Unfunded Trusts

Beneficiary Designations Have Gone Stale

Beneficiary designations on retirement accounts, life insurance policies, annuities, and financial accounts are among the most powerful documents in an estate plan — and among the most commonly neglected. They operate completely independently of the will and trust: a beneficiary designation overrides everything the trust says about that asset. An outdated designation can redirect hundreds of thousands of dollars to the wrong person with no ability to correct it after death.

Ex-spouses still named as beneficiary — divorce does not automatically revoke a beneficiary designation in Missouri; a former spouse named on a life insurance policy or IRA may still receive those assets at your death if the designation was never updated
Deceased beneficiaries — if a named primary beneficiary has died and no contingent beneficiary was named (or the contingent beneficiary is also deceased), the asset may default to your estate and pass through probate
Minor children named directly — naming a minor child as beneficiary of a life insurance policy or retirement account triggers a court-appointed conservatorship, exactly as if there were no plan at all; the trust should be the named beneficiary for assets intended to benefit minor children
Retirement accounts misaligned with trust planning — if your trust has changed its distribution structure or if SECURE Act rules have shifted the planning calculus for your beneficiaries, the retirement account beneficiary designations may no longer coordinate properly
Missing contingent beneficiaries — a common and easily corrected gap; if the primary beneficiary cannot receive the asset (because they predeceased you, disclaim, or are otherwise unable to receive), a missing contingent beneficiary forces the asset into probate

Tax Laws Have Changed — And More Changes Are Coming

Federal and state tax laws affecting estates, trusts, and retirement accounts have changed significantly in recent years, and more significant changes are scheduled. A plan drafted under prior law may not take advantage of current opportunities — or may inadvertently trigger adverse consequences under new rules.

SECURE Act and SECURE 2.0 — the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act (2019) and its 2022 successor fundamentally changed inherited IRA distribution rules. The “stretch IRA” for most non-spouse beneficiaries was eliminated; most beneficiaries must now distribute inherited IRAs within 10 years. Trusts named as IRA beneficiaries must be reviewed to confirm they comply with current rules or risk accelerated distributions and tax consequences
Missouri-specific law changes — Missouri’s Electronic Wills and Trust Signing Act (effective August 28, 2025) changed execution requirements for electronic estate planning documents; plans signed electronically before this date may have been signed under prior rules and should be reviewed for compliance
Step-up in basis planning — changes in the treatment of capital gains at death affect whether certain assets are better held in a revocable trust versus other structures; this analysis changes as law changes and as asset values change

Digital Assets Have Expanded

Five years ago, many families had minimal digital assets worth planning for. Today, the digital estate has expanded dramatically — and most older estate plans contain either no digital asset provisions at all, or provisions drafted before the current landscape existed.

Cryptocurrency and NFTs — the value and complexity of digital currency holdings have grown substantially; a plan that doesn’t address private key management and fiduciary access may leave these assets inaccessible to your successor trustee entirely
Online businesses and monetized content — a profitable website, YouTube channel, Etsy shop, or content subscription business is a real business asset that needs to be included in business succession planning and trust funding
Financial apps and investment platforms — Robinhood, Coinbase, PayPal balances, Venmo accounts, and similar platforms may hold significant value with no beneficiary designation mechanism available on the platform
Cloud storage and professional accounts — valuable creative work, business records, and intellectual property stored in cloud accounts needs access provisions and clear instructions for fiduciaries
Fiduciary access authorization — Missouri adopted the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (RUFADAA); your trust and powers of attorney should expressly authorize the trustee and agent to access digital accounts, or platforms may refuse to grant access even to your successor trustee

See: Digital Assets & Passwords: Protecting Your Online Life in Your Estate Plan

You’ve Moved to Another State (or Are Considering It)

Estate planning documents are generally governed by the law of the state where they were executed or where the grantor is domiciled — and the rules differ meaningfully across states. A move from Missouri to another state (or to Missouri from another state) warrants a review of whether existing documents remain valid and optimally structured.

Will execution requirements vary by state — a will valid in Missouri may or may not satisfy the execution requirements of another state, though most states recognize wills that were validly executed in the state where they were signed
Power of attorney statutes differ — some states use standardized statutory forms; a Missouri-law POA may be accepted in another state but may not include all powers available under the new state’s law
Community property vs. common law states — moving to or from a community property state (Arizona, California, Nevada, Texas, Washington, and others) has significant implications for how marital property is owned and how it passes at death
State estate tax implications — Missouri has no state estate tax, but many states do (Oregon, Massachusetts, Hawaii, and others have lower exemptions than the federal threshold); a move to a state with a state estate tax may require restructuring
Real estate in multiple states — property owned in another state after a Missouri trust is created needs to be evaluated for transfer into the trust under that state’s laws, and may require local counsel to prepare the deed

⚠ The Stale Plan Problem

A stale estate plan creates the illusion of protection without the reality. Families who haven’t reviewed their plans in years often believe they are covered — their documents exist, they’re filed away, everything is handled. But the guardian nominated is no longer available. The trust hasn’t been updated since the children were born and doesn’t reflect how the parents now want the inheritance managed. Three accounts were opened outside the trust. A refinance removed the house from the trust and no one re-deeded it back.

The problem surfaces at exactly the wrong time — at death or incapacity, when nothing can be corrected. A periodic review costs a fraction of the legal and emotional cost of administering an outdated plan.

Events That Require an Immediate Update — Don’t Wait for the 3–5 Year Window

The 3–5 year review cadence is a minimum. These specific events should trigger an immediate plan review, regardless of when the last review occurred:

💍

Marriage or Divorce Marriage creates a new family member who may have inheritance rights under Missouri intestacy law. Divorce does not automatically revoke beneficiary designations or trust provisions naming a former spouse — those must be changed explicitly and immediately.

👶

Birth or Adoption New children should be confirmed as beneficiaries under the trust and the will. Verify whether “after-born children” language in the existing trust covers the new child — and if so, confirm the coverage is adequate for your current wishes.

⚰️

Death of a Named Fiduciary If a named guardian, trustee, executor, or attorney-in-fact dies, the backup named in your documents steps up. If no backup was named — or if the backup is also no longer appropriate — an immediate update is required to avoid defaulting to court appointment.

🏠

Major Asset Acquisition or Disposition Purchase of real estate, a business, or a significant investment. Sale of a business or property. Inheritance. Any event that materially changes your asset picture warrants a review of funding, beneficiary designations, and overall plan structure.

🔑

Refinancing Your Home Lenders typically require property to be temporarily deeded out of the trust for closing. After any refinance, confirm with your estate planning attorney that a new deed back into the trust has been prepared and recorded. This is one of the most commonly missed post-transaction tasks.

✈️

Relocation to Another State A move to a new state — even temporarily, if it establishes domicile — warrants a review of whether Missouri-drafted documents are optimally structured for the new state’s laws, particularly for powers of attorney, healthcare directives, and any state-specific tax considerations.

🏢

Business Formation or Sale A new business interest should be assigned to the trust at formation. A business sale changes the asset picture significantly — proceeds need to flow into the trust, and updated structures may be warranted once the proceeds are invested.

🩺

Serious Health Diagnosis A significant health event affecting you, your spouse, or a named fiduciary warrants immediate review. A fiduciary who becomes incapacitated cannot serve. Your own diagnosis may affect the urgency and structure of planning, particularly for healthcare directives and power of attorney authority.

Self-Audit Checklist — How Stale Is Your Plan?

Use this checklist to assess whether your estate plan needs a review. Any “yes” answer in the flag categories warrants a consultation:

Documents & Execution

My will or trust was signed more than 5 years ago

My estate plan was drafted in another state I no longer live in

I have a will but no trust — and I have minor children or own real estate

I do not have a current durable power of attorney or healthcare directive

People

My named guardian has moved, changed their family situation, or is no longer my first choice

A named trustee, executor, or attorney-in-fact has died, become incapacitated, or is no longer appropriate

I have divorced since my plan was created

I have had additional children or adopted since my plan was created

Assets & Funding

I have purchased real estate since my trust was created that may not be funded in

I have refinanced since my trust was created and am not certain the home was re-deeded back in

I have opened bank or investment accounts since my trust was created that are in my individual name

I have formed or acquired a business interest that may not be assigned to the trust

Beneficiary Designations

I have not reviewed beneficiary designations on retirement accounts within the last 3 years

I have not confirmed contingent beneficiaries are named on all retirement accounts and life insurance

An ex-spouse or deceased individual may still be named as a beneficiary on any account

Law & Tax

My estate plan was drafted before the SECURE Act (2019) and I have significant retirement accounts

My combined net worth (with a spouse) may exceed $6–7 million after the federal exemption sunset

My estate plan has no digital asset or fiduciary access provisions

Frequently Asked Questions

How often should I review my estate plan?

Every 3–5 years as a baseline, and immediately after any of the triggering events listed above. For parents with young children, the 3-year end of that range is more appropriate — children’s circumstances and your wishes for them can change significantly in that time. The review doesn’t always result in changes; sometimes everything is still well-aligned. But the review itself catches the problems that do require attention before they become crises.

Do trusts need to be updated, or just wills?

Both. The trust is often the more important document to update because it governs the management and distribution of most significant assets. Trust amendments address changes to trustees, beneficiaries, distribution ages and conditions, and asset management terms. The will is important primarily for guardian nominations and as a backstop pour-over for any assets outside the trust. Both should be reviewed together — as should all beneficiary designations, which operate independently of both documents.

What if my assets haven’t changed much?

The asset picture is only one of several reasons to review. Family changes, children’s development, guardian and trustee suitability, law changes, and trust funding gaps are all independent reasons to update that are entirely unrelated to asset growth. In our experience, most families who think “nothing has really changed” find at least one meaningful gap when they actually sit down with an attorney and go through the documents — most commonly in the people named as fiduciaries and in the trust’s funding status.

Are beneficiary designation updates part of an estate plan review?

Yes — and they are often the most critical part. Beneficiary designations override wills and trusts entirely for the assets they govern. A perfectly drafted trust is irrelevant to a retirement account if the beneficiary designation names someone different. Every estate plan review should include a complete audit of all beneficiary designations — retirement accounts, life insurance, annuities, and any financial accounts with POD (payable on death) designations.

How much does an estate plan update typically cost?

The cost of an update depends on the scope. Minor amendments — updating a trustee, changing a distribution age, adding a new guardian nomination — are typically much less expensive than creating a plan from scratch. A comprehensive review and update for a family with moderate complexity is generally a fraction of the cost of the original plan. The cost of not updating — a contested guardianship proceeding, a probate administration triggered by unfunded assets, or estate taxes that could have been mitigated with timely planning — vastly exceeds the cost of a periodic review in almost every case.

What is the federal estate tax exemption sunset and should I be concerned?

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 temporarily doubled the federal estate and gift tax exemption. That increase is scheduled to expire (“sunset”) at the end of 2025, reducing the exemption from approximately $13.6 million per person to roughly $6–7 million per person (adjusted for inflation). For married couples, the combined threshold drops from approximately $27 million to approximately $13–14 million. If your combined estate — including life insurance death benefits, retirement accounts, business interests, and real estate — could exceed the post-sunset threshold, you should review your plan with an estate planning attorney before the sunset occurs. Planning done before the sunset generally locks in the higher exemption for gifts made while it is in effect.

When Did You Last Review Your Estate Plan?

If it’s been more than three years — or if any of the triggering events above apply to your family — your plan may have gaps you aren’t aware of. TrustFully.law offers comprehensive estate plan reviews for existing plans, identifying and correcting outdated provisions, funding gaps, beneficiary designation mismatches, and fiduciary nominations that no longer reflect your current wishes. Serving the Greater St. Louis Area and all of Missouri.

Schedule Your Free Estate Plan Review →

This article is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Tax law references (including federal estate tax exemption amounts) are based on law in effect at the time of publication and are subject to change. SECURE Act and SECURE 2.0 summaries are general in nature; the impact on specific plans depends on individual circumstances. You should consult a qualified Missouri estate planning attorney and tax advisor regarding your specific situation. The choice of a lawyer is an important decision and should not be solely based upon advertising.