Estate Planning Review
The Law Has Changed. Your Family Has Changed. Has Your Estate Plan?
What You Built Deserves a Plan That Still Works
You have worked hard for what you have — the house, the land, the savings, and most of all, your family. But laws change, families change, and money changes. What worked 15 years ago may leave a mess today.
If your will or trust is outdated — or you do not have one — the courts may step in and make the decisions for you. Probate is slow, expensive, and entirely public. Everything you built becomes a court process your family has to navigate while they are grieving.
Mark Rogers, CLTC, LUTCF, has spent more than 20 years helping eastern Washington families make sure their assets go where they intended. Mark is not an estate planning attorney — his role is to review the insurance and financial pieces that attorneys typically do not address: beneficiary designations, annuity contracts, life insurance policies, and IRA titling. These are the pieces that most commonly create the biggest problems when they are wrong. If you want to go deeper before you schedule, the
Talking Turning 65 podcast covers estate planning, beneficiary mistakes, and legacy planning in plain English — free, any time.
For business owners and executives, estate planning intersects with succession planning and long-term care in ways a standard review does not always address. Our partners at Next35Years.com cover that side of the conversation in depth.
Four Situations That Make a Review Essential
Your Documents Are More Than Five Years Old
The SECURE Act changed inherited IRA rules — most non-spouse beneficiaries must now fully withdraw an inherited IRA within 10 years, triggering income tax on every dollar. Wills, trusts, and beneficiary designations written before 2020 may no longer function as intended. If your documents have not been reviewed since then, there is a real chance they are working against you.
Your Beneficiary Designations Have Never Been Audited
Beneficiary designations on life insurance policies, IRAs, and annuity contracts supersede whatever your will states. A former spouse, a deceased parent, or an outdated name listed as beneficiary will legally receive those assets — regardless of your will's intent. This is one of the most common and most expensive estate planning mistakes we find in a review, and it is entirely preventable.
Your Family Situation Has Changed
New grandchildren, a remarriage, a divorce, or the death of a named beneficiary all create gaps in an existing estate plan. Blended families in particular require specific attention to ensure assets pass the way you intend — not the way a document written in a different family situation assumes.
You Do Not Have a Current Power of Attorney
A financial power of attorney authorizes someone you trust to manage bills, accounts, and property if you are unable to. A healthcare power of attorney authorizes someone to make medical decisions on your behalf. Without current documents for both, your family may need to go to court to act on your behalf — at exactly the moment when time and clarity matter most.
Wills, Trusts, and Probate — Plain English
A will says what happens to your assets when you pass — but it must go through probate. Probate is a court process that is slow, expensive, and entirely public. Your family waits. Lawyers get paid. Everything becomes part of the public record. A trust lets you skip probate entirely — assets pass directly to beneficiaries, privately and without court involvement.
Annuities and life insurance pass outside probate through beneficiary designation — but only if the designation is current and correct. A policy review confirms both.
Why Tri-Cities Families Trust Us With This Review
"I live on a small farm in eastern Washington. My clients are my neighbors. That is not a marketing line — it is just the truth."
— Mark Rogers, CLTC, LUTCF
Our role in an estate planning review is specific: we examine the insurance and financial assets — annuities, life insurance, IRAs, and beneficiary designations — that sit outside the estate planning attorney's typical scope.
We identify gaps, flag outdated designations, and coordinate with your existing legal and financial advisors to make sure every piece of the plan is pointing in the same direction.
If everything is in order, we will tell you that. If something needs attention, we will tell you exactly what it is and what to do about it.
Meet our team and learn more about how we work.
Estate Planning Review Questions — Answered Directly
What does an estate planning review include?
An estate planning review examines the financial and insurance assets that most commonly create problems when they are outdated or incorrect — beneficiary designations on life insurance, IRAs, and annuities; asset titling relative to trust structures; and IRA distribution rules under current law. Our review does not replace an estate planning attorney. It addresses the financial and insurance pieces attorneys typically do not, and coordinates with your legal documents to make sure everything points in the same direction.
Does an annuity go through probate?
No. Annuities pass directly to named beneficiaries outside of probate through the beneficiary designation on the contract. The asset transfers quickly, privately, and without court involvement. However, if the beneficiary designation is outdated, incorrect, or names the estate rather than a person, the annuity may be pulled into probate. A review confirms the designation is current and functioning as intended.
What happens if I have the wrong beneficiary on my life insurance or IRA?
The wrong beneficiary designation overrides your will entirely. If a former spouse, deceased parent, or outdated name is listed as beneficiary on a life insurance policy, IRA, or annuity, that person or their estate will legally receive the asset — regardless of what your will says or what your actual wishes are. This is entirely preventable with a simple update, and it is one of the most common problems we find in a review.
What is the difference between a will and a trust?
A will directs how your assets are distributed after death but must pass through probate — a public court process that takes months to years and involves legal fees. A trust holds assets outside your estate and allows them to pass directly to beneficiaries without probate — privately, quickly, and without court involvement. Annuities and life insurance with current beneficiary designations also pass outside probate, regardless of whether a trust exists.
How do the SECURE Act changes affect my estate plan?
The SECURE Act changed the rules for inherited IRAs significantly. Most non-spouse beneficiaries must now fully withdraw an inherited IRA within 10 years of the original owner's death — triggering income tax on every dollar withdrawn. Wills and beneficiary designations written before 2020 may no longer distribute assets the way they were intended to. A review identifies whether your current documents account for these changes.
Serving Estate Planning Review Clients Across the Tri-Cities and Eastern Washington
My Safe Money Matters provides estate planning reviews and retirement income guidance to residents of Kennewick, Richland, Pasco, Prosser, and West Richland, and communities throughout Benton, Franklin, and Yakima counties. In-person and virtual consultations are both available.
Make Sure Your Plan Still Works. Before It Has To.
A free 20-minute consultation with Mark Rogers gives you an honest look at whether your estate plan is still doing what you built it to do — with no obligation and no pitch in the first call.