Your 40s Are a Critical Time to Review Your Will and Trust

Your Estate May Be More Complex Than It Was Ten Years Ago

Many people accumulate significant assets gradually. There may never be a single moment when an estate suddenly feels complicated.

Over time, however, your financial picture may grow to include:

• A primary residence
• Additional real estate
• Retirement accounts
• Investment or brokerage accounts
• Life insurance
• Business interests
• Bank and savings accounts
• Digital assets
• Property acquired during marriage

Some of these assets may be controlled by a will or trust, while others can transfer through beneficiary designations, account agreements, or other arrangements.

This is why reviewing only your will may not be enough. Understanding the difference between probate and non-probate assets can help identify whether your entire financial picture still supports the plan you intended.

The People You Chose Years Ago May No Longer Be the Right Choice

Estate planning involves more than deciding who receives property.

Your documents may also name an executor, trustee, financial agent, or other individuals who could eventually have significant responsibilities. Someone who seemed like the natural choice ten years ago may no longer be the person you would choose today.

Relationships change. People move away, develop health problems, experience financial difficulties, or simply become less involved in your life.

During a review, consider whether:

• Your executor is still willing and able to serve
• Your trustee remains appropriate for the role
• Your backup choices still make sense
• Your beneficiaries reflect your current wishes
• The people named in older documents are still part of your life

An estate plan can remain legally significant even when the relationships behind those decisions have changed. Periodic reviews help keep the documents connected to your current circumstances.

Planning for Children Changes as They Grow

Parents often create their first will when their children are young. At that stage, much of the planning may focus on guardianship and making sure someone can manage an inheritance for a minor child.

Those concerns can change significantly during your 40s.

Your children may be teenagers, approaching adulthood, or already beginning college or their careers. That does not necessarily mean they should receive a substantial inheritance outright as soon as they become adults.

A trust can provide more control over how and when assets are distributed. Depending on the family’s goals, it may allow assets to remain managed for a period of time rather than passing to a beneficiary all at once.

The appropriate structure depends on the family, the assets involved, and what parents want an inheritance to accomplish. This is one reason wills and trusts can serve different purposes within the same estate plan.

A Trust Created Years Ago May Need More Than a Quick Review

Creating a trust does not necessarily mean the planning process is finished.

Your assets may have changed considerably since the trust was prepared. You may have purchased another property, opened new financial accounts, changed investments, sold assets, or refinanced real estate.

That raises an important question: does the trust still coordinate with what you own today?

A review may include looking at:

• Which assets are currently associated with the trust
• Whether newly acquired property has been addressed
• Whether trustee and successor trustee choices still make sense
• Whether distribution instructions still reflect your goals
• Whether beneficiary information remains current

A trust that no longer reflects your financial life may not accomplish everything you originally expected it to do.

For families who already have trusts, reviewing which assets should be placed in a trust can be an important part of keeping the overall plan coordinated.

Beneficiary Designations Deserve Their Own Review

Some of the largest assets people accumulate by their 40s may not be controlled directly by their wills.

Retirement plans, life insurance policies, and certain financial accounts can pass according to beneficiary designations. Those designations may have been completed years earlier and then forgotten, which is why it is important to review beneficiary designations periodically.

Reviewing them can be particularly important after:

• Marriage or divorce
• The birth or adoption of a child
• The death of a beneficiary
• A significant change in family relationships
• Changing employers or retirement plans
• Opening new investment or financial accounts

Beneficiary reviews are especially important for retirement accounts. The IRS recommends that plan participants review and potentially update retirement plan beneficiaries after major family changes such as marriage or having children 

An updated will does not necessarily correct an outdated beneficiary designation. Both parts of the plan need to be considered together.

This becomes particularly relevant with 401(k)s and other retirement accounts, where the way an account transfers can depend on how the account and beneficiary designation are structured.

Your 40s Are Also a Time to Think About Incapacity

Estate planning is not limited to deciding what happens after death.

An unexpected illness, accident, or other event could leave someone temporarily or permanently unable to manage financial or personal decisions. A complete review should therefore consider whether the plan addresses incapacity as well as inheritance.

That may involve reviewing documents and arrangements related to:

• Financial decision-making
• Medical decisions
• Access to important information
• Management of assets
• Trust administration
• Responsibilities for dependent family members

The people chosen for these responsibilities years ago may also need to be reconsidered.

Planning for incapacity becomes increasingly important as financial responsibilities grow because there may be more to manage if you are temporarily unable to handle those matters yourself.

Homeownership Can Change the Estate Planning Conversation

For many families, a home is one of their largest assets.

By your 40s, you may have accumulated substantial equity, purchased a second property, inherited real estate, or begun considering how a home should eventually pass to family members.

Real estate can raise questions that go beyond simply naming someone in a will. How property is titled and whether it is coordinated with a trust or another transfer strategy can affect what happens after death.

Families with multiple properties may have even more to consider, particularly when beneficiaries would otherwise inherit real estate together.

Reviewing your estate plan allows you to consider not only who should receive a property, but also how that transfer fits into the rest of the estate.

Your Financial Success May Have Changed What You Need

A plan created earlier in adulthood may have been designed when there were fewer assets to protect and fewer financial decisions to coordinate.

A decade later, the situation may be different.

Career growth, business ownership, investments, real estate appreciation, retirement savings, and other financial changes can increase the value and complexity of an estate without attracting much attention year to year.

This does not automatically mean everyone in their 40s needs a complicated trust structure. It does mean that planning decisions made when your financial life was simpler deserve another look.

A useful review asks whether the plan still fits the assets you have now, rather than the assets you had when the documents were signed.

A Review Does Not Always Mean Starting Over

Finding an older will or trust does not automatically mean every document needs to be replaced.

The purpose of a review is first to determine what still works and what may need attention. Depending on the circumstances, some documents may remain appropriate while others need to be updated.

Estate plans are commonly reviewed periodically and after major life changes because family circumstances, assets, and laws can change over time.

A review can focus on questions such as:

• Do the documents still reflect your current family?
• Are the right people named to handle important responsibilities?
• Have your assets changed significantly?
• Are beneficiary designations coordinated with the plan?
• Does an existing trust still reflect what you own?
• Have your goals for your beneficiaries changed?

The goal is not to change documents simply because you reached a particular birthday. It is to determine whether the plan created earlier in life still fits the life you have today.

Make Sure Your Estate Plan Has Grown With You

Your 40s can bring together responsibilities that did not exist when you first created a will or trust. Children may be growing up, assets may be increasing, careers may be advancing, and financial arrangements may be becoming more complex.

Your estate plan should keep pace with those changes.

At Henington Lewis Law Firm PLLC, we help individuals and families in Austin and Central Texas review wills, trusts, beneficiary arrangements, and other parts of their estate plans to determine whether they still reflect their current circumstances and long-term goals.

If your will or trust was created years ago, contact our firm to discuss whether your existing plan still works for the life and assets you have today.

Frequently Asked Questions

Should I update my will when I turn 40?

Turning 40 does not automatically mean you need a new will. However, your 40s are a useful time to review your existing documents because your family, assets, beneficiaries, and financial responsibilities may have changed significantly since the will was created.

How often should I review my will and trust?

There is no single schedule that works for everyone. A review every few years can help identify outdated information, but major life changes such as marriage, divorce, the birth of a child, a death in the family, or significant changes in assets may justify an earlier review.

Do I need to update my trust when I buy new property?

Not necessarily, but newly acquired property should be reviewed in connection with your trust. Depending on the type of trust, how the property is titled and whether it has been properly coordinated with the trust can affect how the asset is managed or transferred.

Should beneficiary designations be reviewed with my estate plan?

Yes. Retirement accounts, life insurance policies, and certain financial accounts may transfer according to their beneficiary designations rather than the instructions in a will. Reviewing these designations can help ensure they remain consistent with the rest of your estate plan.

What happens if my executor or trustee is no longer the right person?

Your estate planning documents may need to be updated if the person you selected is no longer willing, available, or appropriate to serve. It is also important to review any successor executors or trustees named in the documents.

Do I need a trust in my 40s?

Age alone does not determine whether you need a trust. Your assets, family circumstances, property ownership, goals for beneficiaries, and preferences for how assets should be managed or transferred are more important factors when deciding whether a trust makes sense.

Our Austin, TX Office Location