Estate planning is one of the most important steps to protect your family, preserve your assets, and ensure your wishes are honored. With 2026 approaching, there are specific windows and rule changes that make this year uniquely valuable for updates: beneficiary distribution rules under SECURE Act 2.0 have settled into practice and several states have updated digital asset and healthcare proxy laws. These create practical opportunities (and risks) if you wait. Whether creating a plan for the first time or adjusting an existing one, setting clear goals helps make the process smoother and more effective.
While many think estate planning is only about distributing property, it involves much more. It includes preparing for incapacity, choosing guardians for children, reducing taxes, organizing inheritances, and safeguarding beneficiaries. By pairing practical examples with 2025-specific strategies, you can set sharper, more informed goals and avoid costly missteps.
Why 2026 Is the Right Time to Reevaluate Your Plan
Several reasons make 2026 a particularly meaningful year for estate-related decisions:
- Changes in Financial Markets: Volatility in savings, investments, home values, and retirement accounts may require rebalancing trusts and updating how assets are distributed (e.g., revising pecuniary bequests to avoid selling depressed assets).
- Shifts in Family Structure: Marriage, divorce, aging parents, or births mean immediate beneficiary audits, guardianship updates, and possibly adding a standby trust for minors.
- Evolving Personal Priorities: Charitable interests may shift; consider donor-advised fund timing or qualified charitable distributions (QCDs) if you’re 70½+, and align bequests with current values.
- Digital Asset Growth: With more online accounts, add digital fiduciary authority and an access inventory; many states now recognize specific authorizations under RUFADAA.
- Health and Incapacity Concerns: Update healthcare proxies, living wills, and powers of attorney; several states revised witness/notarization standards and remote execution rules.
A 2026 review ensures your plan aligns with the rules that will actually govern your estate.
Common Estate Planning Goals to Consider
Some core goals for 2026, ranked by urgency and impact for you to consider:
- Beneficiary accuracy and funding: Confirm all primary and contingent beneficiaries; fund any existing trusts. Most costly mistakes: outdated designations, naming minors outright, and unfunded trusts.
- Incapacity readiness: Update healthcare proxy, living will, and financial power of attorney. Add digital fiduciary authority.
- Guardianship and dependents: Reconfirm choices and add instructions for caretaking and money management. Consider a trustee separate from the guardian.
- Asset protection and smooth distribution: Use titling and trusts to avoid probate, reduce conflict, and keep privacy; revisit creditor protection for business owners.
- Legacy and charitable intent: Align bequests with current values; consider DAFs or testamentary CRTs if appropriate.
Setting Personal Estate-Planning Goals for 2026
Since I know everyone loves a good checklist, here are six goals for you to consider for the upcoming year:
1. Update Your Will and Beneficiary Designations
A will is fundamental to estate planning, yet many people allow their documents to become outdated. Reviewing all beneficiary designations (especially on retirement accounts, pensions, and life insurance) is equally important because these designations override what is written in a will.
Tip: Audit every account with a beneficiary field; ensure primary and contingent beneficiaries are current, and use “per stirpes” when appropriate.
2. Evaluate Your Trusts
Trusts offer flexibility, privacy, and protection. More individuals are turning to trusts because they can:
- Avoid probate
- Protect minors and dependents
- Manage assets for beneficiaries who need financial guidance
- Reduce taxes
- Maintain privacy
Quick tip: If you own real estate in multiple states or value privacy, a revocable living trust is often worth it. Retitle brokerage accounts and record real estate deeds into the trust. Example: Move a vacation home into your trust to avoid ancillary probate.
3. Reassess Guardianship and Responsibilities for Dependents
If your family has grown or changed, 2026 is the time to reevaluate guardianship choices. Consider:
- Who can provide emotional support
- Who manages finances responsibly
- Whether co-guardianship is appropriate
Document what matters: include a letter of intent (daily routines, medical info, schooling), and consider appointing a separate trustee to handle money. Example: Name your sister as a guardian and a professional trustee for asset management.
4. Strengthen Your Healthcare and Incapacity Planning
An estate plan should also address situations where you become unable to make decisions. This involves:
- Healthcare directives
- Living wills
- Powers of attorney
- Long-term care planning
Ready to get started? Name agents first, then specify preferences, then confirm execution requirements in your state. Add HIPAA releases and digital access authority.
5. Inventory Your Digital Assets
Digital accounts can include:
- Email accounts
- Social media
- Online banking
- Cryptocurrency
- Cloud storage
- Subscription services
Add a secure access plan: list accounts, storage locations, and a password manager emergency access feature; authorize your fiduciary under applicable state law (e.g., RUFADAA).
6. Plan for Taxes and Long-Term Financial Growth
Proper tax planning can significantly increase the inheritance you leave behind. In 2025, individuals should evaluate:
- Gifting strategies
- Trust-based tax planning
- Charitable donation timelines
- Retirement withdrawal planning
Your 2026 Action Plan
- Week 1–2: Inventory documents and accounts; pull all beneficiary confirmations.
- Week 3–4: Update will, powers of attorney, healthcare proxy, and digital authority.
- Week 5–6: Fund/retitle into any existing revocable trust; record deeds as needed.
- By March 31: Execute annual exclusion gifts; consult CPA/attorney on lifetime transfers.
Reflective Questions for Your 2026 Estate-Planning Review
To help you set meaningful goals, consider asking yourself:
- Have my financial assets or liabilities changed significantly?
- Am I supporting new family members or dependents?
- Have any relationships shifted, requiring updates to beneficiaries?
- Are my personal values or charitable interests evolving?
- Do I have new digital assets that need inclusion?
- Have I updated my medical care preferences?
- Do my documents reflect my current wishes clearly?
- What triggers an immediate update? (Marriage/divorce, birth/death, major asset purchase/sale, relocation, business change.)
- Cadence: Set an annual review (e.g., every January) and a same‑month update after any trigger event.
Checklist: Updating Your Estate Plan in 2026
Ready to map out a path for 2026? Here's what I would suggest you consider:
- Legal documents: Review and update will; confirm execution complies with current state rules.
- Beneficiaries: Update retirement, life insurance, and brokerage designations (primary and contingent; per stirpes as needed).
- Trusts: Reevaluate terms; fund/retitle assets into trust; record deeds.
- Financial assets: Update inventory of accounts and titling; note location of statements.
- Healthcare: Review healthcare proxy, living will, and financial POA; add HIPAA release.
- Digital assets: Create access list; authorize fiduciary; document password manager emergency access.
- Family decisions: Confirm guardianship; write letter of intent; assign trustee if separate.
- Tax planning: Execute annual exclusion gifts; consult on lifetime transfers.
- Storage and sharing: Store originals; share access and locations with key agents.
Ready to Get Started
If you need help getting your estate plan in place or are ready for an update to one you already have, let's schedule a Legal Strategy Session online or by calling my Edina, Minnesota office at (612) 294-6982 or my New York City office at (646) 847-3560. My office will be happy to find a convenient time for us to have a phone call to review the best options and next steps for you to work with an estate planning attorney.
