Every Trigger, Not Every Year
How often should I update my estate plan? Review it every three to five years, and update it immediately after any trigger event: marriage, divorce, a new child or grandchild, a death or incapacity among your named people, a significant change in assets, a move into or out of Colorado, or a relevant change in the law. The calendar review catches drift; the trigger events are where outdated plans actually fail, because Colorado law fills the gaps with defaults you did not choose.
An estate plan is a snapshot. It captures your family, your assets, and the law as they stood the day you signed, and all three keep moving afterward. The will a Castle Rock couple signed in 2012 was probably excellent in 2012. If a child has married, a business has been sold, and a named executor has died since, the document is now partly fiction, and the gaps will be filled by statute rather than by anyone's wishes.
The good news: maintenance is far cheaper than the original work, and the events that demand it are predictable. Here are the triggers, and what Colorado law does to plans that ignore them.
Marriage and Remarriage
Marry after signing your will, and Colorado's omitted-spouse statute steps in:
"If a testator's surviving spouse married the testator after the testator executed his or her will, the surviving spouse is entitled to receive, as an intestate share, no less than the value of the share of the estate he or she would have received if the testator had died intestate as to that portion of the testator's estate… that neither is devised to a child of the testator who was born before the testator married the surviving spouse… nor is devised to a descendant of such a child." (C.R.S. § 15-11-301)
The statute assumes you forgot, and it hands your new spouse an intestate-style share of the portion of your estate not left to your pre-marriage children, unless the will anticipated the marriage or you provided for them outside it. Whatever you actually intended, the cleanest evidence is a new document. Remarriages with children from prior relationships raise the stakes further; the elective share and intestacy splits make blended-family planning its own discipline, and a pre-remarriage review, ideally paired with a marital agreement, is the move.
Divorce: The Automatic Fix With a Famous Hole
Colorado law does some updating for you here. Under C.R.S. § 15-11-804, divorce automatically revokes everything your will, trust, most beneficiary designations, and fiduciary appointments gave your ex-spouse, as if they had died before you. Helpful, and dangerous, because the statute breeds complacency. Employer retirement plans governed by federal ERISA law follow the beneficiary form on file regardless of Colorado statute, and ex-spouses have collected entire 401(k)s decades after a divorce because one form never got changed. After a divorce: new will, new powers of attorney (the revocation strips the ex as agent, leaving the slot empty), and a direct update of every employer plan and insurance form. Statutes at leg.colorado.gov.
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Births, Adoptions, and the People You Named
A child born or adopted after your will is protected by Colorado's omitted-child statute (C.R.S. § 15-11-302), which grants a share by formula. Like the omitted-spouse rule, it is a safety net with no judgment: a formula cannot name a guardian for the new baby, create a trust until age 25, or account for a child's disability, where an inheritance arriving outright can disrupt public benefits and a special needs trust is the right vehicle.
Just as important are the people on the other side of the documents. Your personal representative, trustee, agents, and your children's nominated guardian all age along with the plan. A named guardian who has moved overseas, an agent sliding into their own cognitive decline, a brother-in-law executor who is now an ex-brother-in-law: each is a quiet failure waiting in a drawer. Every review should re-ask one question: are these still the right people, with the right backups?
Asset Changes and Moves
Plans are built around what you own. Selling a business, buying a rental in another state, receiving an inheritance, or watching a brokerage account grow past what the plan contemplated all justify a fresh look. Out-of-state real estate is a specific Colorado trap: without planning, it can force a second probate in that state, which a trust or beneficiary deed arrangement avoids. And for trust-based plans, every asset change re-raises the funding question, because the new account or property avoids probate only if it is titled into, or pointed at, the trust.
Moving matters in both directions. Arriving in Colorado from another state, your documents are generally valid, but they reference the wrong statutes, the wrong witnesses regime, and often the wrong tax assumptions; a Colorado refresh is inexpensive insurance. Leaving Colorado, the same logic applies in reverse.
When the Law Itself Moves
The last trigger arrives without any family event at all. The past few years have been busy ones for the rules that estate plans sit on. The federal estate and gift tax exemption stands at $15 million per person ($30 million per couple) for 2026, permanent and inflation-indexed under the 2025 tax law, which quietly converts many older plans, built with formula clauses designed around far lower exemptions, into structures that no longer do anything useful, or worse, misallocate between a surviving spouse and children. Colorado's small estate affidavit threshold reached $88,000 for deaths in 2026. Damage caps, probate procedures, and trust law all get legislative attention on a rolling basis.
Nobody should track this for fun. The practical answer is the cadence: a professional review every three to five years catches the law's movement, and the trigger events catch your life's. Reviews are quick when nothing has changed, and they are dramatically cheaper than the probate litigation that outdated documents generate, which is the honest sales pitch for the whole habit.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How often should I update my estate plan?
Review it every three to five years and after every trigger event: marriage, divorce, births, deaths, incapacity of named fiduciaries, major asset changes, interstate moves, and significant law changes. Most reviews confirm the plan still works; the ones that don't are the ones that pay for the habit.
Does marriage invalidate my old will in Colorado?
It does not invalidate it, but C.R.S. § 15-11-301 entitles a spouse you married after signing to an intestate-style share unless the will contemplated the marriage or provided for them outside it. A post-wedding update makes your actual intentions controlling.
Does divorce automatically remove my ex from my estate plan?
Mostly. C.R.S. § 15-11-804 revokes provisions and appointments favoring an ex-spouse in wills, trusts, and most designations. The exception is ERISA-governed employer plans like 401(k)s, which pay the beneficiary on file regardless, so those forms must be updated directly after a divorce.
What happens if I have a child after signing my will?
Colorado's omitted-child statute, C.R.S. § 15-11-302, grants the child a formula share of your estate. The formula cannot name a guardian, set ages for inheritance, or create a special needs trust, which is why a new child should always prompt an actual update rather than reliance on the statute.
Do I need to update my estate plan if I move to Colorado?
Yes, as a practical matter. Out-of-state documents are generally valid here, but they cite another state's statutes and assumptions. A Colorado review updates powers of attorney, medical directives, and probate planning to match Colorado law, including tools like the beneficiary deed that your old state may not have offered.
Did the 2026 federal tax changes affect my estate plan?
Possibly. The federal exemption is $15 million per person for 2026, permanent and inflation-indexed. Older plans built around much lower exemptions, especially those with formula-driven trust splits, can now misfire, locking up assets unnecessarily or skewing distributions. Plans drafted before 2018 deserve a specific review on this point.
When Did You Last Read Your Own Will?
If the answer involves a different president, a different house, or a different family, the review is overdue. Tactical Lawyers reviews and updates estate plans, yours or one drafted elsewhere, for clients across Douglas County and the Denver metro, on transparent flat fees explained in writing. Call (720) 499-0000 or request a free consultation; we respond within 24 hours, usually the same day.
This article is for informational purposes only and is not legal advice. Estate planning outcomes turn on specific facts; consult a licensed Colorado attorney about your situation.