Abroad Without a Plan

Is a simple estate plan enough if you travel or work abroad? For most people, it is the right place to start, as long as it works when you’re far from home.

For more than twenty years, my work took me across borders. I advised governments, legislatures and oversight bodies in nearly forty countries, and I spent much of that time far from home. My travels ranged from Yellowknife, Canada, to Indonesia and Afghanistan, and throughout Europe and Latin America.

Since opening my own firm and working with families on their estate plans, I’ve been surprised by how many people who travel or work abroad haven’t put even a simple plan in place. They renew their passport and book the flight. The Power of Attorney, the Health Care Directive, and the list of who to call stay in a drawer, or don’t exist. That’s what I mean by being abroad without a plan.

Distance makes small gaps larger. Picture a hospital stay in another time zone, a lost phone that held your only copy of a password, or a vacation home in a country with its own inheritance rules. In each case your family needs the right documents and the right people quickly.

Five questions to ask before your next trip

These are the five questions we shared for Estate Planning Week 2026. None of them takes long to answer, and each one closes a gap that is easy to miss.

1. Can your family reach your documents? Think of your Power of Attorney and Health Care Directive, needed from another time zone. Keep a copy your family can open from anywhere, not only a paper original in a drawer.
2. Will your insurance travel with you? Check whether your health coverage applies outside the United States, and whether you have medical evacuation coverage. Policies differ, so look rather than assume.
3. Are you enrolled in STEP? The State Department’s Smart Traveler Enrollment Program is a free service for U.S. citizens traveling or living abroad. It sends you updates and alerts from the local embassy and can help the embassy contact you in an emergency.
4. Who is at home with copies? Someone who is not traveling with you should have your documents and your contact details, so there is a person on the ground who can act.
5. Are you living or owning property abroad? U.S. documents may not be recognized there. If you do, ask a lawyer how your documents and the local rules fit together.

The fifth question is the one that most often changes the plan, so it gets a closer look below.

What changes when your life crosses a border

Charles Schwab’s recent overview of how living abroad can complicate an estate plan is a useful starting point. It is general, and the rules vary by country, so treat it as a map of the questions rather than the answers. Five issues stand out:

• Your worldwide assets count. U.S. citizens and permanent residents are generally taxed on their worldwide estate, including foreign real estate and other property.
• Residency rules differ. Many countries treat you as a tax resident if you spend more than half the year there, and the U.S. has estate or gift tax treaties with only 15 countries.
• Your documents may not travel. A U.S. Power of Attorney may have little or no effect abroad, and foreign wills may need specific wording to follow local law.
• Foreign forced-heirship rules can override your choices. In many countries, a fixed share of an estate, often half or more, must go to children, and the rules of the country where real estate sits can apply to that property even if you do not live there.
• Heirs may be taxed, not the estate. Most countries tax the person who inherits, and heirs can be forced to sell or borrow against illiquid property to pay.

None of this means a U.S. plan is wasted. It means the plan should be built and tested with the border in mind.

Take the five-minute Check-Up

For Estate Planning Week, I would like you to take the free Estate Plan Check-Up and see where you stand. Section 7, International Travel & Work, is built for people like you. It asks whether your health insurance covers you outside the United States, whether you have medical evacuation insurance, whether you are enrolled in STEP, and whether your Durable Power of Attorney is current and easy to find while you are traveling. In other words, it covers questions two and three directly, and part of question one.

The Check-Up runs in your browser. Your answers are not sent to us or stored.

Then talk to an estate planning lawyer

If any answer is “No” or “Not sure,” that is a sign to talk to an estate planning lawyer. If you live abroad, own property abroad, or have family members who do, ask whether you also need local counsel and how your documents will work together. Planning that starts before the trip is far easier than planning from a hospital bed. Don’t go abroad without a plan.

We serve families in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Washington State. If you would like to talk it through, schedule a 30-minute consultation or start with the Check-Up.

This article is for general information only and is not legal or tax advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Laws differ by country and change over time. Vickery Law PLLC is licensed in the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Washington State.