In my house, I am notorious for my lack of smelling sense.  From smelling expired dairy to something burning in the oven, I am pretty pathetic and rely a lot of my wife to tell me when something does not pass the smell test.

While our noses are good indicators of something being off, we have no inate sense for knowing if our Wills (or other estate planning documents) have gone bad.

Have you ever noticed the expiry date on your estate planning documents?  Don’t panic (this is a trick question), there isn’t one.  Their legal power remains – provided you have them and know where they are located.

Wills can remain same day fresh and not expire for 50+ years.  This is great, but in some ways also a bit scary.

If you took a 20 year span of your life, a lot of things can happen:

• You may get married or enter a long term relationship or separate/divorce
• You may have children or step children
• You may do the above 2 items a few times
• You may have started or wound up a business
• You may have inherited or amassed significant wealth (house, investments, etc.)
• Your relationship with people named in you estate planning documents could have changed (family members or friends could move away, separate/divorce from you or your family, or you may simply fall out of contact).

As your nose may not know that these changes impact your Will,  it is important to sniff, I mean read and review, your Will and other estate planning documents on regular intervals.

How often is regular?  5 years is a good starting point.  Your lawyer, accountant and financial specialist generally use this timeframe.  If you have experienced significant changes (as mentioned above), or you have a complex estate plan, you should review on shorter intervals.

I tell my clients they can review their estate planning documents in the comfort of their home.  If they determine their estate planning documents continue to meet their goals, nothing further is required.  The documents can be revisited in a further 5 years.  If the review indicates concerns, it would be beneficial to review the documents and the impact of your life changes with your estate planning lawyer.

You can create reminders – every 5 years into the future on your digital calendar (like Microsoft word or Google), or ask your smart assistant, Siri, Alexa or Google to remind you in 5 years to review your documents.

While I believe in the old saying to “follow your nose” meaning trust your intuition, when it comes to ensuring your estate planning documents continue to meet your estate planning goals you should “take 5” – years or less to review and confirm they do.