The woman had 11 months (from the time of her son’s death until her own death) to update her plan and make sure that she had a plan in place that reflected her true objectives. That’s why act promptly is so very important. No one is promised tomorrow and, as we get older, the odds of something unexpected happening only go up, statistically speaking. The only way to protect yourself against having an outdated plan carried out that doesn’t reflect your planning desires is to make sure that, if something has changed, you act right away. Whether you’re making a plan or updating one, it’s the only way to ensure that the legacy you leave is the one you want.

1. Act Promptly Without Delay | It’s Good
Advice Whether You’re Creating a Plan or
Updating One

2. Act Promptly Without Delay | It’s Good
Advice Whether You’re Creating a Plan or
Updating One
One case that shows the importance of acting right
away went through the courts in Tennessee this year. In
the case, a woman from Knoxville had created a will in
2007. That will said that her assets were to be split
evenly among her children and, if one or more child
died before her, then that child’s children took his/her
share. Three years later, she created a will codicil that
altered her plan. Under the revised plan, her son,
Brock, received sole ownership of her home in
recognition of his having spent the preceding years
serving as her caregiver.

3. After another three years passed, the woman was
apparently contemplating the content of plan. Prior to this,
Brock had passed away, dying in November 2012. The
woman obtained a “Confidential Estate Planning
Questionnaire” from an attorney, which she completed on
Oct. 9, 2013. Five days later, before she signed anything
else, the woman died. The questionnaire document
indicated made no mention of distributions to any
grandchildren. Because of Brock’s death, this meant that
the distribution plan in 2013 questionnaire would be very
different from the one laid out in the 2007 will and 2010
codicil.
Act Promptly Without Delay | It’s Good
Advice Whether You’re Creating a Plan or
Updating One

4. This, of course, ended up causing a court battle. On one
side, Brock’s children argued that the questionnaire was not
a valid legal document and the 2007 will and 2010 codicil’s
instructions should be carried out. On the other side, the
woman’s surviving children argued that the courts should
order the woman’s wealth distributed under the plan laid
out in the 2013 questionnaire, as it represented her true
intentions at the time of her death. The woman, they
argued, had experienced a “falling out” with Brock’s
children around the time of Brock’s death, did not want
them to receive anything, and the questionnaire was proof
that her testamentary intent had changed.
Act Promptly Without Delay | It’s
Good Advice Whether You’re Creating
a Plan or Updating One

5. Both the trial court and the appeals court sided
with the grandchildren. The questionnaire
document could only be viewed, under the law, as
notes or a memorandum that the woman made in
preparation for creating a new will, not an actual
and legally enforceable estate planning document.
That meant that the 2007 will and 2010 codicil
were still valid and that the grandchildren took the
grandmother’s home.
Act Promptly Without Delay | It’s
Good Advice Whether You’re Creating
a Plan or Updating One

6. The courts in this case had no choice but to rule for the
grandchildren. Estate planning questionnaires are very
useful tools that some attorneys use with their clients
to make the process of estate planning more efficient
for both client and counsel. They are not, however,
legal documents. If, however, the children’s claims of a
quarrel and dispute between grandmother and
grandchildren were true, then the outcome in this case
would be disappointing, as the woman’s true goals
would not have been carried out.
Act Promptly Without Delay | It’s
Good Advice Whether You’re Creating
a Plan or Updating One

7. If the children’s assertions were true, though, then the case
is a lesson teaching the importance of avoiding delay. The
woman had 11 months (from the time of her son’s death
until her own death) to update her plan and make sure that
she had a plan in place that reflected her true objectives.
That’s why act promptly is so very important. No one is
promised tomorrow and, as we get older, the odds of
something unexpected happening only go up, statistically
speaking. The only way to protect yourself against having
an outdated plan carried out that doesn’t reflect your
planning desires is to make sure that, if something has
changed, you act right away. Whether you’re making a plan
or updating one, it’s the only way to ensure that the legacy
you leave is the one you want.
Act Promptly Without Delay | It’s
Good Advice Whether You’re Creating
a Plan or Updating One