Moving to another state should always prompt you to work with an experienced qualified estate planning attorney. If you just relocated to Michigan, there might be a few things in your estate plan that are no longer accurate for you. This is why meeting with a Plymouth estate planning attorney can help.
An estate planning attorney can review your existing estate planning strategy and help you to determine the most appropriate way to move forward. There is another big reason why you should update your estate plan when you’ve moved to a new location, and that is naming a new executor.
The executor is the person responsible for handling important estate administration tasks after you pass away. Who you choose as executor is an extremely important decision as this person must handle a variety of tasks that can take anywhere from a few months to well over a year to complete. Your executor must be able to locate and identify all of your assets, verify the presence of any creditors, satisfy those creditors’ claims and other debts and then distribute remaining assets to your beneficiaries.
You typically will name a relative or friend as executor of your will, but if you named someone from your previous location as an executor, it may be a good idea to choose a new one. Some states do impose restrictions about who can serve as your executor, but it also makes things more challenging if your executor lives out of state. Contact an estate planning attorney in your new home to determine the most appropriate way to name someone else and to address any other necessary updates to your estate plan, such as powers of attorney, wills, or trusts.