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Short answer: Review it every three years, and immediately after marriage, divorce, births, deaths, a move to or from Idaho, a significant change in assets, or a major change in the law. An estate plan is a snapshot; life keeps moving.
The event triggers that matter most:
- Divorce or remarriage - Idaho law revokes most ex-spouse provisions automatically (§ 15-2-804), but federal-plan beneficiaries and everything about a NEW spouse require deliberate updates. Blended-family structure can't be retrofitted by statute.
- Births and deaths - new children and grandchildren, and the death or decline of named guardians, trustees, agents, and personal representatives. A plan naming all the wrong people is barely better than no plan.
- Moving to Idaho - community property treatment, fiduciaries left behind, and Idaho's Advance Care Planning Document all warrant review (your out-of-state will is likely valid; 'valid' isn't 'right').
- Asset changes - buying property (especially out-of-state), selling a business, receiving an inheritance, or new accounts that never made it into a trust. Funding drift is the silent killer of trust-based plans.
- Law changes - recent examples: the federal estate tax exclusion was made permanent at $15 million (2026), Idaho consolidated its medical directives into the Advance Care Planning Document and moved the registry to DHW, Idaho launched its ABLE program (2026), and a transfer-on-death deed bill nearly passed in 2026 and may return. Plans built on superseded assumptions accumulate quiet errors.
What a review actually involves: rereading documents against current family facts, auditing beneficiary designations and account titling, confirming the trust still owns what it should, checking fiduciary choices, and a short conversation about anything new. Most reviews end with 'you're fine' or a modest amendment - full rewrites are the exception.
We offer free consultations and plan reviews - including plans we didn't draft - and if you want, our clients receive review reminders every three years, because a plan that stays current is the product, not the binder.
Liberty Law Idaho offers flat-fee estate planning and family law services with prices published up front. Schedule a consultation - in person in Meridian or virtually anywhere in Idaho - at libertylawidaho.com or (208) 273-8825.