March Madness – Adjust As Necessary

The other night our family filled out our brackets for the NCAA tournament.  This is a family tradition for us and often proves to be quite entertaining.  My children tend to make their picks based on all kinds of things, but very seldom on the rank of the team.  We’ve had some really interesting teams picked to advance over the years.I couldn’t help remembering a few years ago when our youngest son started realizing that his picks weren’t winning.  Instead of just crossing off the losing teams, he decided to adjust his bracket. His strategy was to get a post-it note with the winning team’s name and stick it on to his bracket.  That was his way of navigating through the unknowns of who was actually going to win the games and making sure he still had a team in the running when it came time for the championship game.Sometimes making an estate plan is kind of like my son’s bracket, we make decisions based on what we think will happen, but then things turn out differently.  Unfortunately too often I have seen people, who once they have done their estate planning, never think of it again.  When the time comes for the estate plan to function it doesn’t reflect their current circumstances which can mean added complication for loved ones left behind.We can’t change everything - people may not understand if you adjust your NCAA bracket like my son did.  But by coming back to your estate plan and adjusting it as necessary, you can take care of those unforeseen circumstances that we all face and make sure that your “team is still in the game” when it matters.