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Aug 06, 2026
Major events such as marriage, divorce, a birth, a death, a serious diagnosis, or a substantial financial change should prompt an estate-plan review. Even without one of those events, reviewing a plan every few years can uncover documents and beneficiary choices that no longer work as intended.
Our article about when to prepare or update a Louisiana will discusses the events that should bring someone back to the planning table. This article addresses the next question: What should a Louisiana estate plan review actually include?
1. Does the will still distribute your property as intended?
Start with the dispositive provisions—the instructions explaining who receives the property. Consider whether:
- The named beneficiaries are still living
- The percentages or particular gifts still make sense
- A beneficiary’s circumstances have changed
- The will addresses what happens if a beneficiary dies first
- New children or grandchildren are properly included
- An estranged relative still receives property
- A charity or other organization is identified correctly
- The plan still works under Louisiana’s forced-heirship rules
The review should also identify any handwritten notes, attempted amendments, or later wills that could create confusion. Informal edits written onto a signed will may not constitute a valid amendment and can make the document harder to interpret.
Sometimes a new will is cleaner than attempting to preserve an old document through multiple amendments.
2. Are the right people still serving in each role?
An estate plan may name several people to different positions:
- Executor
- Trustee
- Financial agent
- Health care agent
- Guardian or tutor for a minor child
- Successor or alternate for each role
The person who seemed like the right choice several years ago may no longer be available, willing, or qualified. Relationships change. People move, develop health problems, experience financial difficulties, or lose contact with the family.
The review should consider more than whether the person is trustworthy. An executor or trustee may need to communicate with financial institutions, preserve property, maintain records, work with professionals, and manage disagreements among beneficiaries.
Alternates are also important. A plan that names only one person may leave a court appointment necessary if that person cannot serve.
3. Do beneficiary designations match the written plan?
A will does not necessarily control every asset. Retirement accounts, life insurance, annuities, and certain payable-on-death or transfer-on-death accounts may pass according to beneficiary forms maintained by the financial institution.
That creates a common estate-planning problem: the will says one thing, but an old beneficiary designation says something else.
During a review, compare the estate plan with the primary and contingent beneficiaries listed on:
- Individual retirement accounts
- Employer retirement plans
- Life insurance policies
- Annuities
- Payable-on-death accounts
- Transfer-on-death investment accounts
The IRS explains that retirement-plan benefits are generally paid to the beneficiary selected under the plan’s procedures. The identity and classification of that beneficiary can also affect the distribution options available after the account owner’s death.
Do not assume that changing a will also changes a beneficiary form. Each institution may require its own update.
4. Does legal ownership of the property match the plan?
An estate plan cannot be evaluated accurately without determining how the property is owned.
For married clients, that includes identifying community and separate property. Louisiana Civil Code article 2338generally classifies property acquired during the community-property regime through either spouse’s effort, skill, or industry as community property. Meanwhile, Civil Code article 2341 identifies several categories of separate property, including property acquired before marriage and property inherited or donated to one spouse individually.
The review should examine:
- Deeds to homes, land, and rental property
- Business ownership records
- Bank and investment account titles
- Property inherited by either spouse
- Property acquired before marriage
- Property owned jointly with someone other than a spouse
- Vehicles, mineral interests, and other titled property
A will can dispose only of the property or ownership interest belonging to the testator. Therefore, mistaken assumptions about ownership can undermine an otherwise carefully drafted plan.
5. Has the trust actually been funded?
Signing a trust does not automatically transfer property into it. If a client created a living or probate-avoidance trust, the review should confirm whether the intended assets were properly transferred and titled.
That may include reviewing:
- Real estate conveyance records
- Bank and investment account ownership
- Business interests
- Assignments of movable property
- Beneficiary designations
- Property acquired after the trust was signed
A trust that owns little or nothing may not accomplish its intended purpose. Likewise, property acquired years later may remain outside the trust unless the client takes an additional funding step.
Our article about Louisiana probate-avoidance trusts explains why Field Law continues working with clients after signing to help coordinate and fund the trust.
6. Are minor or vulnerable beneficiaries adequately protected?
Leaving property to a minor requires more planning than simply naming the child in a will. A review should determine:
- Who will manage the inheritance
- Whether the property should remain in trust
- What expenses the trustee may pay
- When the beneficiary should receive control
- Who serves if the first trustee cannot act
- Whether the plan coordinates with the proposed guardian or tutor
Similar concerns can arise when an adult beneficiary has a disability, receives needs-based benefits, struggles with addiction, faces creditor problems, or lacks the ability to manage a substantial inheritance.
A direct inheritance may not be the best solution in every case. A properly structured trust can provide management and protection while allowing the property to benefit the intended person.
7. Do the incapacity documents still work in practice?
A complete review should include more than documents governing death. The financial power of attorney, health care power of attorney, and living will may become important during the client’s lifetime.
Questions to consider include:
- Is the chosen agent still appropriate?
- Is a capable alternate named?
- Does the financial mandate contain the authority the agent may actually need?
- Does the health care agent understand the client’s wishes?
- Can the necessary people locate the documents?
- Will banks, medical providers, and other institutions be able to use them?
- Do the documents reflect the client’s current health and long-term-care concerns?
Our article about how a Louisiana contract of mandate protects your interests discusses why a generic power of attorney may not address every transaction the agent later needs to complete.
8. Can the family locate the original documents?
A legally sound estate plan may still cause problems if no one can find the original will or determine which version is current.
During the review, confirm:
- Where the original will is stored
- Whether the executor knows how to locate it
- Whether obsolete originals or copies could cause confusion
- Where trust documents and amendments are kept
- Whether agents have access to powers of attorney and health care documents
- Whether account and property information is reasonably organized
Louisiana maintains a confidential will registry, but the registry does not store the will itself. According to the Louisiana Secretary of State, it records information about the will’s execution and intended place of safekeeping. The state also maintains a separate living-will registry.
The practical goal is not to give every family member a copy of every document. Instead, the appropriate people should know that the documents exist and how to obtain them when necessary.
9. Has the tax picture changed?
Most Louisiana estates will not owe federal estate tax. However, tax planning is still part of a meaningful estate-plan review.
Property values, ownership structures, retirement accounts, and prior lifetime transfers can affect:
- Capital-gains basis
- Income taxes on inherited retirement accounts
- The consequences of lifetime gifts
- Business succession planning
- The allocation of tax burdens among beneficiaries
For many families, the potential capital-gains consequences of transferring appreciated property during life deserve more attention than federal estate tax. Our article on how taxes influence Louisiana estate-planning choices explains why the step-up in basis at death can be an important planning consideration.
An estate-plan review is more than rereading the will
A useful review connects the legal documents with the client’s current family, property, account titles, beneficiary forms, and practical arrangements. The question is not merely whether the documents remain signed and technically valid. The question is whether the entire plan would still work if the client became incapacitated or died today.
Field Law can help review your Louisiana estate plan
Field Law helps clients identify outdated provisions, coordinate beneficiary designations, review property ownership, update decision-makers, and confirm that trusts have been properly funded.
If your documents have not been reviewed in several years—or you are unsure whether your property and beneficiary designations match the plan—Field Law can conduct a comprehensive Louisiana estate plan review and recommend only the updates that are actually needed.
