How often should a business succession plan be reviewed as a company or family situation changes?

There's no legal rule setting how often a business succession plan needs to be reviewed — it's a matter of prudent practice, not a filing requirement. What matters more than a fixed schedule is reviewing the plan whenever something material changes: a new child joins or leaves the business, a marriage or divorce affects an owner or a successor, a business partner is added or bought out, the company's value shifts significantly, an owner's health changes, or relevant tax or corporate rules change in a way that affects the plan's assumptions.

As a general habit, many business owners revisit their succession plan every few years even without a specific trigger, simply because family circumstances and business realities drift over time in ways that are easy to miss day to day. A plan built around an estate freeze, a shareholders' agreement, or insurance funding can quietly become outdated — the insurance coverage no longer matches the buyout price, or the people named in a trust no longer reflect who's actually running things. Treating the plan as a living document, and checking in with a lawyer and accountant after any major life or business event, tends to work better than treating it as something to set once and forget.