Last month, we provided an overview of five typical estate planning tools. Now, let’s look at how you actually produce an estate plan that will allow things to go smoothly for your family after your disability or death. If your plan won’t work, why bother having one?

Effective estate planning is not an event.It is a process! If you would like your estate plan to produce results, you need to undertake a process through which you carefully gather and prepare the tools you and your family may need in the future, align your assets with those tools, and regularly adjust and maintain your set of tools and your plan.Simply buying a Will or Trust document is like going to your financial advisor, choosing specific investments, and then never looking at them again.That would not be wise.

Unfortunately you don’t know what your future holds. So if you are putting together a set of tools to be ready for whatever comes up in the future, you would prepare a variety of tools, particularly those that would provide the most benefit to you and your family even if you had a few extra along just in case.

You would also maintain those tools so they work when you need them.You should carefully look at your estate planning attorney’s process for maintaining your plan over time.Do they have a formal process for keeping the documentation up to date regarding legal changes and changes in your personal situation? Does your attorney have a process for notifying you when legal changes necessitate an adjustment in your plan? Does the attorney remind you periodically to review your plan to make sure it still meets your goals, and have a way for you to do so quickly and easily? Does the attorney work with you to ensure that your current and future assets stay properly aligned with your plan?Does your attorney have a process for helping prepare you and your family for the transitions that will come upon your disability and death?

If you can’t answer “Yes” to these questions, you may want to investigate a more thorough process of estate planning. Not having the right tools or having a bunch of rusty old tools (documents) is not the answer to eventual success. It is simply a false sense of security.

If you have questions about these issues, you are encouraged to gain more knowledge about available estate planning tools, by visiting www.EstatePlansThatWork.com to sign up for a complimentary educational workshop.