Fall is a practical time for Pennsylvania families to review an estate plan because the season often brings a shift from summer schedules to year-end financial, family, and business decisions. If you live in Media, Pennsylvania, Delaware County, or a nearby community, a fall estate plan review can help you confirm that your will, trusts, powers of attorney, beneficiary designations, and asset ownership still reflect your current wishes.
You do not need to rewrite your estate plan every autumn. A focused review can identify changes that deserve attention before holiday travel, family gatherings, year-end planning, or a new calendar year makes the task easier to postpone.
A fall estate plan review does not mean starting over. It means confirming that your documents, beneficiaries, property ownership, and decision-makers still match your life.
Why Fall Works Well for an Estate Planning Review 
Pennsylvania law does not require an annual fall estate planning review. Fall is useful because it creates a natural checkpoint before the end of the year.
By September and October, you may have already experienced changes involving work, family, real estate, retirement, investments, or business ownership. Reviewing your estate plan during this period gives you time to identify legal or financial questions before year-end decisions are complete.
A review can be especially useful if you experienced any of these changes during the year:
- Marriage, divorce, separation, or remarriage
- Birth or adoption of a child or grandchild
- Death or disability of a beneficiary or named decision-maker
- Purchase or sale of a home or other real estate
- Retirement or a major employment change
- Receipt of an inheritance
- Sale, purchase, or restructuring of a business
- Significant changes in savings, investments, insurance, or debt
- A move into or out of Pennsylvania
- A change in health or long-term care concerns
Even if no major event occurred, reviewing your documents can confirm that your current plan still reflects your wishes.
Start With Your Will
Your will is one of the first estate planning documents to review. Pennsylvania law generally requires a will to be in writing and signed at the end, subject to statutory exceptions. A will can direct the distribution of probate property, name an executor, and address guardian nominations for minor children when appropriate.
Read the entire will rather than reviewing only the signature page or a few key provisions. Confirm that the executor you named is still someone you trust and that any alternate executor remains a sensible choice. If you are a parent of a minor child, review any guardian nomination as your child grows and family circumstances change.
Look closely at gifts that name specific people or property. A provision may no longer fit your goals if the property was sold, a beneficiary died, or a relationship changed.
If several provisions need revision, ask an estate planning attorney whether a new will would be clearer than multiple amendments. Avoid making handwritten edits, crossing out provisions, or attaching informal notes to an executed will. Those changes can create questions about what you intended.
For more information about estate planning services in Media, Pennsylvania, visit:
https://www.gibperk.com/estate-planning-attorneys-in-media-pa/
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I highly Recommend Gibson & Perkins. I have used their services for approximately 6 years now and been through a few cases together with very positive outcomes. Personally, I have used Paul Fellman and Walter Timby on those occasions. Both, as a team & separately these Attorneys were wonderful to work with and easily accessible to reach if I had any questions. Professionalism is the word that comes to mind to describe the firm, as a whole. Always completely prepared for any surprises that may pop up during a trial. They were well versed on all pertinent info pertaining to each case. As I client, I always felt I was an integral part of the team, not an after-thought, that had to be brought up to speed a half hour before the trial started. I could not recommend this firm and Mr. Fellman and Mr. Timby any higher.Very Satisfied
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Check Beneficiary Designations and Asset Ownership
A will does not control every asset you own.
Retirement accounts, life insurance, payable-on-death accounts, transfer-on-death arrangements, jointly owned property, and trust assets may pass outside your will. The beneficiary designation, account title, deed, or trust terms may determine who receives those assets.
Compare beneficiary records with the rest of your estate plan. Check whether the names, percentages, and backup beneficiaries still match your goals. Pay close attention after a marriage, divorce, death, birth, or other family change.
Real estate also deserves a careful review. The way property is titled can affect how it passes at death. If you bought, sold, refinanced, inherited, or transferred real estate during the year, confirm that the deed and estate plan still work together.
The firm discusses transferring property to heirs here:
Review Your Financial Power of Attorney
Your will primarily addresses what happens after death. A financial power of attorney can authorize another person, called an agent, to act for you during your lifetime within the authority granted by the document. Under Pennsylvania law, powers granted in a power of attorney may continue after incapacity unless the document limits them, you revoke them, or a court terminates the agent’s authority.
Review the person you named as your agent. Ask whether that person is still available, trustworthy, and able to serve. Review any successor agent for the same reasons.
Your financial life may have changed since you signed the document. You may now own a business, hold different investment accounts, own more real estate, or have different tax, digital asset, or financial management needs. An attorney can review whether the document still fits your circumstances and whether the powers granted to your agent remain appropriate.
For more information about incapacity and estate planning, visit:
https://www.gibperk.com/what-will-happens-to-your-estate-if-you-become-incapacitated/
Revisit Health Care Documents
Estate planning also covers decisions that may need to be made while you are living. In Pennsylvania, an advance health care directive may include a health care power of attorney, a living will, or both.
A health care power of attorney lets you name a health care agent who can make health care decisions when the document and Pennsylvania law permit that authority to operate. A living will can communicate treatment instructions for circumstances covered by the document.
Review these documents if your health changed during the year or if a person you named is no longer available or appropriate. Confirm that your health care agent understands your general preferences, has current contact information, and knows where signed documents are stored.
You should also consider whether the people closest to you know whom you selected to make health care decisions if you cannot communicate those decisions yourself.
Review Trusts and Trust Funding
If your estate plan includes a trust, reviewing the trust agreement is only part of the process. You should also confirm that assets intended for the trust have been titled, assigned, or coordinated as your plan requires.
A trust may deserve review when:
- A trustee or successor trustee is no longer the right choice
- A beneficiary’s circumstances have changed
- You purchased or sold property
- You opened or closed major financial accounts
- You moved to another state
- Your family structure changed
- You own a business interest that must be coordinated with succession documents
Trust planning may be useful for families with minor beneficiaries, beneficiaries with disabilities, blended families, business owners, or people who want ongoing management of inherited assets.
If a beneficiary has a disability, review the plan before making changes that could affect eligibility for means-tested public benefits. Special needs planning often requires careful coordination of trusts, beneficiary designations, and other assets.
The firm discusses special needs estate planning here:
https://www.gibperk.com/estate-planning-for-a-loved-one-with-special-needs/
Use Fall to Coordinate Tax and Year-End Planning
Estate planning, tax planning, business planning, and financial planning can overlap. Fall gives you time to gather records and identify questions before year-end decisions are finalized.
You may want to review:
- Gifts made during the year
- Charitable plans
- Retirement accounts
- Life insurance
- Business interests
- Changes in real estate ownership
- Major changes in investments or debt
- Planned transfers to family members or trusts
The goal is not to make a transaction simply because December is approaching. The goal is to identify whether a legal, tax, business, or financial decision should be coordinated before you act.
This review can be especially useful for business owners. Your estate plan may address who receives the economic value of a business interest, while a shareholder agreement, operating agreement, buy-sell agreement, or other governing document may place separate rules on ownership, transfers, or management rights. Those documents should be reviewed together.
Make Family Conversations More Productive
Fall often brings families together, but a holiday meal does not need to become an estate planning meeting.
A separate conversation can help the people named in your plan understand their roles. You may want to tell an executor, trustee, agent, or proposed guardian that you named that person. You can also explain where original documents are stored and whom to contact if legal help is needed.
Clear communication can be valuable when a plan involves:
- A blended family
- Unequal gifts
- Shared real estate
- A family business
- A beneficiary with special needs
- Property with significant personal or family value
You do not need to disclose every financial detail. The goal is to reduce uncertainty about roles, documents, and practical steps.
A Simple Fall Estate Planning Checklist
Before the end of the season, consider whether you should:
- Read your will from beginning to end
- Confirm executors, trustees, agents, guardians, and backup choices
- Review beneficiary designations on retirement and insurance accounts
- Compare deeds and account titles with your estate plan
- Review financial powers of attorney
- Review health care powers of attorney and living wills
- Confirm that trusts are funded or coordinated as intended
- Update your list of major assets and liabilities
- Review business succession and ownership documents
- Confirm where original documents are stored
- Make sure trusted decision-makers know how to locate important documents
- Schedule a legal review if your family, property, health, finances, business interests, or goals changed
A review may show that no changes are needed. That result can still be useful because you have checked your plan against your current circumstances.
Speak With a Media Estate Planning Attorney This Fall
If your estate plan has been sitting untouched for several years, or if your family, property, finances, business interests, or health have changed, fall is a practical time to review it.
Gibson & Perkins, PC advises clients in Media, Pennsylvania, Delaware County, and nearby communities on wills, trusts, powers of attorney, estate administration, tax planning, real estate, and related estate planning matters. The firm’s estate planning team includes attorneys with advanced tax degrees and attorneys who are also Certified Public Accountants.
Learn more about Edward L. Perkins, JD, LLM (Tax), CPA:
https://www.gibperk.com/media-pa-attorney-edward-l-perkins/
To request a confidential case review, visit:
https://www.gibperk.com/contact/
Call (610) 557-1977.
This article is for general informational purposes only and is not legal advice. Your circumstances may require advice based on specific facts and current law. Consult an attorney about your situation.