Happy Groundhog Day

Happy Groundhog Day – Is Your Estate Plan in a Time Loop?

If you wake up every morning thinking that you need to get your estate plan updated, or worse, created, you might feel like Bill Murray in the classic movie “Groundhog Day.” Actually, a lot of days in 2020 felt like Groundhog Day: a never-ending time loop of working from home, dining at home, working out at home, visiting with friends and family from home, etc.

There’s a way to get out of an estate plan time loop, and it won’t require you to go through endless mornings with a clock radio playing The Beatles’ “Tax Man” song.

If you have been putting off updating your estate plan, it’s time to get it done.

Your estate plan is at risk if it is out of date.

If your estate plan has not been updated since before the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) of December 2017, there may be estate planning opportunities that you are missing.

If your estate plan has not been updated since the SECURE Act went into effect in December 2019, there may be missed opportunities. There is still time to benefit from the changes.

If you are waiting to see what changes are coming from the new administration and the Democrat-controlled Senate, this is not the time to procrastinate. Whatever changes may be coming in the future are exactly that—in the future.

The new administration and Congress have many large issues to tackle immediately, from addressing a global pandemic to responding to domestic terrorists. President Biden did propose changes during his campaign, including eliminating the basis adjustment for assets and making changes to the federal estate tax exemption, which is likely to change before the planned sunset of 2025.

But there is an exceedingly long stretch between the time a campaign promise is made and what actually becomes law.

Negotiations with the House and Senate, efforts by lobbying groups and the White House staff, take time. And while you are waiting for the law to change, your estate plan may put you or your loved ones in a precarious position.

If your estate plan is stuck in Groundhog Day, call our office at 516-307-1236 and make an appointment to meet with us by phone, video conferencing or in the office. We can get your estate plan updated, and get you out of the time loop. Eventually, Bill Murray got to tomorrow in “Groundhog Day, and the same can happen for your estate plan.