New Year’s estate planning tasks will help you and your family as you make changes in your lives. According to CBS News,
around half of Americans make resolutions, yet many people don’t follow through. Only around 25% of people who created a New Year’s resolution were still working on it after a month. Only ten percent of people end up accomplishing the objective they set for themselves.
Creating or updating your estate plan should be at the top of your list of goals for 2026. This is especially true if you don’t already have a plan in place. Many people are unprepared for what could happen in the event of incapacity or death. Not being prepared poses a larger problem for your family.
You don’t want to take a chance of losing your opportunity to control your legacy because you delay too long. At the beginning of the New Year, keep these items at the top of your to-do list.
Key New Year’s Estate Planning Tasks to Handle in 2026
Here are three estate planning tasks that belong on your to-do list this year:
1. Create or review your estate plan
If you don’t have an estate plan in place already, you cannot wait any longer to do it. You need to put your plans in place so that it doesn’t become too late. If you die or become incapacitated without a plan, your family is going to be in a difficult situation. They may find themselves arguing about your wishes when it comes to very important issues. This can include questions about guardianship or your wishes should you become incapacitated.
There are default laws that can determine what happens after you become incapacitated or pass away. For example, the court could appoint a guardian, or you could end up with intestacy laws determining who inherits. However, these default laws are generic and not an expression of your wishes. You have worked too hard to build your estate to just leave everything up to chance.
If you already have an estate plan, you should check it over to see if it needs updating. Make sure your plans change as your family situation does. This should be revisited if your goals, assets, or family size changes.
2. Check who you have designated as your beneficiaries
You’ll also want to see who you have designated as a beneficiary on key accounts each year. That’s because some accounts, such as 401(k) plans, require you to designate a beneficiary who will inherit the account if something happens to you. These accounts do not pass through probate, and the terms of your will do not control what happens to them. A life insurance policy is the same — your chosen beneficiary gets the death benefit, no matter what your will says.
If you forget to update your beneficiaries as life changes, that can create a huge problem if you pass away and your accounts say something different than you might have preferred. Say, for example, that you named your brother as the beneficiary on your life insurance policy because at the time you bought coverage, you were single. If you have since found a partner and are sharing a life together, you may prefer that your partner get the death benefit if something were to happen to you.
Even if you specified that in your will, if you died without updating the beneficiary on your life insurance, the policy would pay out to your brother by default. It would be difficult or impossible for your loved ones to alter that after the fact — and you don’t want to have the money going to the wrong person, or create resentments, complications, and legal battles among family members.
3. Make sure that you have an incapacity plan in place
Finally, you need to be sure you have an incapacity plan in place. This can include documents like a living trust specifying what kinds of medical care you’ll accept or deny in an emergency and it can include a healthcare power of attorney naming someone to make decisions for you when you can’t act on your own. Without this, you may end up getting care you don’t want, being denied care you do, or having your family end up in a fight over your wishes.
Get help from an estate planning attorney
The easiest way to make sure you are accomplishing your goals is to get help from an experienced and qualified estate planning attorney.
At our firm, we can assist you with your key estate planning tasks, such as creating your last will and testament, trust, and other documents. Our team will work with you to understand the legacy that you want to leave and to ensure that your loved ones are provided for appropriately.
To find out how our firm can help you, give us a call at (916) 437-3500 to talk with us. You can also contact us online to learn more about the ways in which we can help you accomplish your estate planning goals and create a secure future.
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