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Are your bad habits creating a bad estate plan?

June 7, 2026

We all have bad habits. And most of us probably plan on addressing those bad habits someday.

I will absolutely be exercising more … soon.

But when it comes to estate planning there are some bad habits that you need to change sooner rather than later, because none of us knows when “too late” will arrive.

Bad habit #1: Delaying

I’m always surprised at the number of clients I see who have no estate plan in place, even though they had or have minor children — one of the strongest motivators for getting an estate plan. Usually, the clients tell me they always meant to get a plan in place, but they were busy, or couldn’t decide on a guardian, or found it too upsetting to talk about.

The thing is, if you don’t put a plan in place, the state of California has done it for you. It’s not likely a plan you’d care for as it would potentially divide assets among your spouse and children, and your children would receive their share at age 18. If you don’t have a spouse or children, your assets may go to your parents or your siblings (yep, even that no good lazy sibling that Mom or Dad always liked best).

Sometimes, it’s just seeing an attorney that folks want to delay, so they put a “temporary plan” in place and tell themselves they’ll talk to an attorney soon. Soon never does roll around and that temporary plan, with all its flaws and deficiencies, becomes the plan.

A common action taken to delay doing more formal estate planning is to title property (typically the family home, but sometimes bank accounts) as “joint tenants” with another party so that when the first party dies the assets go to the joint tenant. Similarly, completing a “transfer on death” form at a bank without working through an overall plan is a common delay tactic.

These temporary plans work in a narrow set of circumstances — the parties named are the only intended beneficiaries, and the party owning the assets has a short life expectancy.

A parent putting one child on title as a joint tenant or named as the transferee on death with the intention, however well meaning, that the one named child will “share” with the other children, is a disaster waiting to happen.

Also, while both names are on a joint account, creditors of both parties may be able to seize the account. Even if the child means to carry out the parent’s wishes, if he’s got an IRS lien, or another creditor out there, the creditor may get the asset before the siblings do.

Bad habit #2: Denial

We’re all going to die. Cheery, I know. But it’s a fact. And whether you’ve planned for it or not, you too will one day die. There’s no point in denying that fact. Face it head on and put a plan in place — including a plan in the event of your incapacity.

And while you are talking to your attorney about your estate plan, don’t deny the truth about your heirs and beneficiaries.

We can’t solve problems we don’t know about. If you have a beneficiary you don’t think will handle money well, if you don’t like those out-laws your kids married, if you have more assets than your heirs (or your spouse) know about, you have a lot of debt, if you really want to name person A as your successor trustee, but you don’t want to offend person B, or any other fact that would even possibly affect your estate plan, tell your lawyer.

That’s what the attorney-client privilege is for. Well, that’s one of the reasons anyway. Chances are good your attorney has dealt with a similar situation previously and will have options that you never thought about. But again, if we don’t know all the facts, we can’t create the best plan for you.

Bad habit #3: Disregard

Once you get that estate plan in place, please don’t shove it in a drawer and disregard it. Laws change. Circumstances change. Bank balances change. All of those things can easily make your plan out of date. Your plan is no more “set it and forget it” than your kids are. Luckily, you don’t need to feed your plan three meals a day or put it through college, but you do need to pay attention to it occasionally.

Take your estate planning documents out of that drawer every three to five years and see if it still works for you. Do you still want the parties you named to serve as your trustee? Are your named beneficiaries still who you’d want to inherit from you? Has anybody moved away? Died? Become a [insert political party you despise here]? Also, give your attorney a call and see if there are any major law changes that would affect your trust.

Now, doesn’t that all sound easier than eating more vegetables and taking more steps daily? Break those bad habits. I believe in you — more than I believe in my exercise plan.

Teresa J. Rhyne is an attorney practicing in estate planning and trust administration in Riverside and Paso Robles, CA. She is also the #1 New York Times bestselling author of “The Dog Lived (and So Will I)” and “Poppy in The Wild.” You can reach her at Teresa@trlawgroup.net

Orange County Register

News Details

Are your bad habits creating a bad estate plan?

Bad habit #1: Delaying

Bad habit #2: Denial

Bad habit #3: Disregard

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