Your End of Year Estate Planning To-Do List

As the end of the year approaches, it’s a good time to perform a quick check-up on your estate plan and address changes that might need to be made or take advantage of any tax opportunities. Below is a quick to-do list to cover the main items.

Check Your Beneficiary Designations

Beneficiary forms for assets like IRAs, 401(k)s, life insurance, etc. override wills and trusts, so it’s important to make sure your beneficiary forms are up to date with the correct primary and contingent beneficiaries.

If you have a trust listed as the beneficiary for any assets, quickly verify that the legal name of the trust is correct on the beneficiary form.

Review “Life Events” and Update any Documents

A lot can happen in the span of a year, such as births and marriages, financial changes, new homes, etc., and it’s easy to get caught up in the daily grind and forget to update your estate documents. Now is a good time to review those documents and confirm that they reflect your current status.

Confirm Asset Titling and Trust Funding

Trusts are merely documents, and can be meaningless without funding into them. Review your trusts and make sure they refer to the assets you intend, and that those assets are named correctly. Also confirm that any smaller, non-titled assets such as personal property lists still match what you currently own.

Take Advantage of the Annual Gift Tax Exclusion if Feasible

For the 2025 tax year, the federal gift tax exemption has an annual exclusion of $19,000 per recipient ($38,000 for married couples) and a lifetime exemption of $13.99 million per individual.

Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), the lifetime exemption will be at $15 million per individual (and $30 million for married couples) starting in 2026, with provisions for future inflation adjustments.

If you plan to make annual gifts to children, grandchildren, or other beneficiaries, make those gifts before December 31st to utilize this year’s exclusion.

Organize Your Digital Assets and Passwords

It’s important that your executor or trustee can easily access critical online information and accounts, including social media and bills. Create a list of all digital assets, email accounts, cloud storage accounts, crypto wallets, etc. and store it in a secure location or digital vault. Ensure that your estate principals know where to find this information.

Check-up on 529 Plans and Custodial Accounts

Review any college or custodial accounts for minors that you’re currently funding, and verify the beneficiaries are properly listed on all accounts. Ensure you have trustees in place and that they are prepared to take over management of the funds.

Finally, Get Your Paperwork in Order

Ask yourself if your agent, personal representative, or trustee could easily find everything they need if you are incapacitated or worse. Create a short guide that points your executor and trustees to the documents, accounts, and resources they’ll need to handle your estate. Also consider putting together your electronic usernames and passwords in a safe place.

We’re here to help. The experienced attorneys at Hackstaff, Snow, Atkinson & Griess can help you update your estate plan, or create one if you haven’t started the process already. We can help you strategize and design a plan that is comprehensive and fulfills your wishes.