Three Considerations for Your New Estate Plan After Getting Remarried

Blended families bring about unique estate planning considerations. There are many things you should discuss with a Pasadena estate planning lawyer to ensure that you have appropriately covered all of your bases. After a remarriage, there are three primary things to think about when revising your estate plan.

First of all, consider how you title assets. Many homes for married couples are titled as joint tenancy with the right of survivorship. This means that the home can automatically go to the surviving joint tenant upon the death of the other party, regardless of whether or not you wanted to leave this home to someone other than this spouse. If you do desire to leave your home to your spouse when you pass away, this is the appropriate way to deed the real estate property. However, if you want to leave the home to someone beyond your current spouse, like your children or your new spouse, you should consider an alternate form of ownership. A Pasadena estate planning lawyer can help.

The second issue to pay attention to are beneficiary designations and testamentary gifts. This can become very complicated if you have children from a previous relationship. If the first marriage is to a co-parent of your children, there is little risk in using only your spouse as a beneficiary on things like life insurance policies. However, challenges can emerge if you do not update these beneficiary designations, as you may not be able to count on your ex-spouse following your estate planning intentions. You may want to include both your spouse and your children as separate beneficiaries on trusts, life insurance policies, or other accounts, for example. This ensures that the gifts that you want your children to have will go to them rather than children from a prior relationship or to your spouse.

Finally, choose a trustee who is able to remain neutral in the face of disputes between children from a previous relationship and new spouses. Trustees that serve blended families can help guide through complicated conversations and concerns. Work with our Pasadena estate planning lawyers to learn more about the best way to address your unique legal concerns.