Your will and power of attorney is nestled in your safe deposit box. Your living will is in your file at your doctor's office. You feel prepared for all the uncertainties that life can fling at you.

But are you really as prepared as you hope you are? If your will is yellowing with age, if your power of attorney has your old address on it and your living will contains outmoded and legally problematic language like "heroic measures," then consider updating your documents.

Three circumstances can prompt an update: Changes in your life situation, changes in your family, and changes in the law.

Have you recently married? Divorced? Are you newly retired? Have you been told that you have a suddenly shortened life expectancy? Did you just win the lottery? Did you just start a new business, or did your old business just go down the drain? Or both?

In any of these and many other circumstances, a review and update of your estate plan is warranted.

If your children have all left home, or a parent has taken up residence with you; if you have just downsized from a house to a condo or retirement facility, or if you're the one moving in with your children, you need to review and revise your plans. Likewise, the death or relocation of a trusted family member or friend who was to serve as trustee, executor or agent should prompt a review and revision of your plans. Estrangement or reunion with children or parents, birth of your first child or grandchild can all prompt a rethinking.

In 2004, Congress enacted the medical records privacy laws (HIPAA). If your power of attorney, living will, medical directive or trust requires a certification of your incompetency before your agent or trustee takes authority, those documents might have become ineffective. Consider redrafting them.

In that same year, the Maryland General Assembly reduced the amount of money a Maryland resident can give tax-free at death. If your estate (combined with your spouse's estate if you are married) exceeds one million dollars, including equity in real estate, death benefit of life insurance, investments and retirement plans, you might have a new-found tax problem.

The tax on an estate of $1.5 million is nearly $64,000; the tax on a $2.0 million estate is about $90,000. If you are fortunate enough to have enough of an estate that the government wants to help itself to a portion at your death, consider tax planning to avoid or reduce that drain on your hard-earned assets.