Year End Estate Planning Checklist 2025: 10 Smart Moves to Make Before December 31 (2025 Update)
As the year winds down, most people think about holidays, travel, and taxes. But the end of the year is also one of the best times to review your estate plan. Life changes fast — and if your documents haven’t kept up, the people you love and the assets you worked hard for may not be protected the way you think they are.
At RK Law PC, we help individuals and families make sure their estate planning documents are current, tax-efficient, and aligned with their real-life goals. Use this year-end estate planning checklist (updated for 2025 estate and gift tax figures) to spot gaps and decide what to update before December 31.
1. Year End Estate Planning Checklist 2025 – Confirm Your Will Still Reflects Your Wishes
Start by locating your Last Will and Testament (yes, actually pull it out of the drawer or folder).
Ask yourself:
- Have there been any births, deaths, divorces, or marriages since you signed it?
- Are the beneficiaries still correct?
- Are the dollar amounts or percentages still what you want?
- Are the people you named as Executor and alternate Executor still the right choice (and still willing/able to serve)?
If your will is more than 5–7 years old, or your life has changed significantly, it’s often time to update or restate it.
2. Year End Estate Planning Checklist 2025 -Review Your Power of Attorney
A Durable Power of Attorney lets a trusted person handle legal and financial matters for you if you can’t act on your own. This is critical for avoiding costly and time-consuming guardianship proceedings if you lose capacity.
At year-end, review:
- Who did you name as Agent (and backup)?
- Do you still trust this person’s judgment and financial responsibility?
- Does your current Power of Attorney include the right powers (for example, gifting, trusts, business interests, or real estate if those are relevant)?
If your document is very old or was done quickly online, it may not meet current standards or banking practices. Updating it now can prevent huge headaches later.
3. Year End Estate Planning Checklist 2025 – Update Your Health Care Proxy and Living Will
Your Health Care Proxy names someone to make medical decisions if you can’t communicate. A Living Will can express your wishes about end-of-life care.
Year-end review questions:
- Is the person you named as Health Care Agent still the best person?
- Have your feelings about life support, resuscitation, tube feeding, or pain management changed?
- Do your loved ones actually know what’s in these documents?
If you don’t have a Health Care Proxy and Living Will, this is one of the most important items to add to your estate planning checklist before the year ends.
4. Year End Estate Planning Checklist 2025 – Check Beneficiary Designations on Accounts & Policies
Certain assets pass outside of your will based on beneficiary designations, including:
- Life insurance
- Retirement accounts (401(k), 403(b), IRA, Roth IRA)
- Transfer-on-death (TOD) or payable-on-death (POD) accounts
- Some brokerage and bank accounts
At least once a year:
- Confirm the primary and contingent beneficiaries.
- Make sure ex-spouses, deceased relatives, or outdated charities are not still listed.
- Check that beneficiary designations work together with your will and any trusts (for example, naming a trust as beneficiary for minor children or beneficiaries with special needs).
A quick beneficiary review is one of the simplest and most powerful year-end estate planning moves you can make.
5. Year End Estate Planning Checklist 2025 – Evaluate Whether a Trust Still Makes Sense (or Should Be Added)
Trusts can be used to:
- Avoid or streamline probate
- Protect assets for minor children or young adults
- Provide for a loved one with disabilities without jeopardizing benefits
- Shield assets from certain creditors or long-term care costs (when done properly and in advance)
- Control how and when beneficiaries receive money
Ask yourself:
- Do you already have a revocable or irrevocable trust?
- Is it fully funded (are the right assets actually titled in the name of the trust)?
- Are the trustees and successor trustees still appropriate?
- Is it fully funded (are the right assets actually titled in the name of the trust)?
- Have changes in your health, marital status, or net worth made a trust more important now than when you first did your planning?
Year-end is a natural time to schedule a review with your estate planning attorney to determine whether you need to create, update, or fund a trust.
6. Year End Estate Planning Checklist 2025 – Estate & Gift Tax Snapshot: Key Numbers to Know
Understanding the current federal estate and gift tax limits helps you plan more strategically at year-end.
For 2025, the IRS inflation adjustments provide:
- Federal estate & lifetime gift tax exemption:
- $13.99 million per individual
- $27.98 million for a married couple (with proper planning and portability)
- $13.99 million per individual
This is the total amount you can transfer during life and at death before federal estate or gift tax would apply.
- Annual gift tax exclusion (2025):
- $19,000 per recipient
- $38,000 per recipient for a married couple who “split” gifts
- $19,000 per recipient
You can give up to these amounts in 2025 to as many people as you wish without using any of your lifetime exemption and generally without filing a gift tax return.
⚖️ Important: Federal rules are only part of the picture. Many states (including New York) have their own estate or inheritance tax systems with different exemption amounts and rules. Your plan should be reviewed in light of both federal and state law.
7. Year End Estate Planning Checklist 2025 – Consider 2025 Year-End Gifting Strategies
With the 2025 numbers in mind, year-end is a powerful time to consider tax-efficient gifts:
- Use your 2025 annual exclusion to gift up to $19,000 per person (or $38,000 per person for married couples) to children, grandchildren, or others, without using lifetime exemption or triggering gift tax reporting in most simple situations.
- Make charitable contributions that may provide income tax benefits for 2025 while reducing the size of your taxable estate.
- Fund 529 college savings plans for children or grandchildren using annual exclusion gifts, and in some cases “front-load” multiple years of gifts.
Year End Estate Planning Checklist 2025: Even if your estate is well below the federal exemption, lifetime gifting can:
- Help loved ones now, when they may need it most
- Reduce future probate complexity
- Shift growth and appreciation out of your estate
Because 2025 is the last year before the current (increased) federal exemption is scheduled to be cut roughly in half on January 1, 2026 (absent new legislation), this is an especially important year to review larger gifting and estate tax strategies.
8. Review Your Asset Inventory & Account List
Your estate plan is only as good as your information. If no one can find your accounts, policies, or digital assets, it complicates everything.
Before year-end:
- Make or update a master list of:
- Bank accounts and investment accounts
- Retirement plans and life insurance policies
- Real estate (with locations and deeds)
- Business interests
- Digital assets (online accounts, subscriptions, email, social media, crypto)
- Bank accounts and investment accounts
- Let your trusted person (Executor, trustee, or Agent) know where this list is kept and how to access it.
This isn’t about sharing balances; it’s about making sure loved ones are not left searching and guessing.
9. Revisit Guardianship Provisions for Minor Children
If you have minor children, one of the most important functions of your will is to nominate:
- A Guardian of the Person (who your children live with and who makes day-to-day decisions)
- A Guardian of the Property or trustee (who manages money for their benefit)
Ask:
- Are the guardians you named still the right people, geographically and practically?
- Has anyone’s health, stability, or relationship with your children changed?
- Do you need to separate who raises your children from who manages money?
As children grow, your planning may shift — an older relative who made sense when your kids were infants might be less ideal when they’re teenagers.
10. Align Your Estate Plan With Your Long-Term Care Strategy
As you age, it’s important that your estate plan and long-term care plan work together.
At year-end, think about:
- Have there been changes in your (or your spouse’s) health this year?
- Do you have long-term care insurance, or are you planning to self-fund potential care?
- Would an asset protection plan or Medicaid planning strategy make sense if done 5+ years in advance?
This is a key area where working with an attorney who understands both estate planning and elder law can protect your savings and your options.
11. Schedule a Professional Estate Plan Review
A true year-end estate planning checklist ends with action. Even a well-drafted plan can become outdated when:
- Laws change
- Assets change
- Relationships change
As a general rule, you should review your estate plan:
- Anytime there is a major life event (marriage, divorce, birth, death, move, major purchase or sale), and
- At least every 3–5 years, even without major changes
An experienced estate planning attorney can:
- Spot gaps you might miss
- Coordinate your will, trusts, beneficiary designations, and titling
- Suggest tax-efficient and asset-protection strategies tailored to your situation
Year End Estate Planning Checklist 2025 – People Also Ask: Year-End Estate Planning FAQs (2025)
A solid year-end estate planning checklist should include:
Reviewing and updating your will
Confirming your Power of Attorney, Health Care Proxy, and Living Will
Checking beneficiary designations on retirement accounts, life insurance, and bank accounts
Evaluating whether your trusts are still appropriate and properly funded
Using the 2025 annual gift tax exclusion (up to $19,000 per recipient, or $38,000 per recipient for married couples splitting gifts) where appropriate
Updating your asset inventory and digital asset list
Reviewing guardianship provisions for minor children
Coordinating your estate plan with long-term care planning, and
Scheduling a professional review with an estate planning attorney
For 2025, the key federal numbers are:
Estate & lifetime gift tax exemption:
$13.99 million per individual
$27.98 million for a married couple, with proper planning and portability
Annual gift tax exclusion:
$19,000 per recipient
$38,000 per recipient for a married couple that elects to split gifts
Amounts above the annual exclusion may require a gift tax return and will generally use part of your lifetime exemption, even if no tax is due.
Most people should review their estate plan:
Whenever there is a major life event (marriage, divorce, birth, death, move, sale or purchase of a major asset), and
At least every 3–5 years, even if nothing dramatic has changed
Given that the current, higher federal exemption is scheduled to drop in 2026, 2025 is an especially important year to revisit your planning.
Yes. Beneficiary designations control certain assets (like retirement accounts and life insurance), but they do not:
Name guardians for minor children
Direct who receives personal items, real estate, or business interests that are not covered by beneficiary forms
Coordinate how and when beneficiaries receive assets
A comprehensive estate plan combines a will, proper beneficiary designations, and — when appropriate — trusts and other documents.
If you don’t update your estate plan:
Assets may go to people you no longer intend to benefit
Ex-spouses or deceased individuals may still be listed as beneficiaries
Courts may need to step in to appoint guardians or decision-makers
Your family could face delay, expense, and conflict during an already difficult time
Updating your plan regularly helps ensure your wishes are followed and reduces the burden on your loved ones.
Yes. From a planning perspective, year-end 2025 is a particularly important window:
You can give up to $19,000 per person (or $38,000 per person as a married couple) under the 2025 annual gift tax exclusion.
Larger gifts may use part of your $13.99 million lifetime exemption, which is scheduled to drop in 2026 unless Congress acts.
Charitable gifts made before December 31 may also provide income tax benefits for the 2025 tax year.
Coordinating your charitable and family gifts with your overall estate and tax planning can help you maximize both tax savings and impact.
Don’t Let Another Year Pass With an Outdated Estate Plan
The end of the year is busy, but a focused review of your estate plan now can prevent confusion, conflict, and unnecessary expense later. Even small updates — changing an executor, adding a contingent beneficiary, or signing a Health Care Proxy — can make a big difference.
If you’re not sure where to start, you don’t have to do this alone.
RK Law PC helps individuals and families review, update, and create estate plans that reflect their real-world needs and values — with an eye on the current 2025 estate and gift tax rules and upcoming changes.
Ready to Review Your Year End Estate Planning Checklist 2025?
Contact RK Law PC to discuss you Year End Estate Planning Checklist 2025. We’ll walk through this year-end estate planning checklist with you, identify what needs attention, and help you enter the new year with clarity and peace of mind.
For more information, please contact NYC Probate Litigation, Guardianship, Probate, and Estate Planning attorney Regina Kiperman:
Phone: 917-261-4514
Fax: 929-556-2089
Email: rkiperman@rklawny.com
Or visit her at:
40 Wall Street
Suite 2508
New York, NY 10005
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