How Life Changes Affect Your Estate Plan: Marriage, Divorce, New Children

Getting started on your estate plan when you have retired or are about to retire can make you feel like you are late to the party. Your friends who truly have their act together started working on their estate plans when they were in their 40s or even younger, and now they just have to make small modifications to reflect their increasing prosperity and to provide for their growing crowd of grandchildren. If you are a late bloomer in your estate planning world, though, you have an advantage. You cannot rest on your laurels and smugly put off updating your estate plan. Dying with an out-of-date estate plan can cause as much conflict during probate as dying without an estate plan at all. If your family status changes, your will and other estate planning documents require a careful review, and you may need to modify them to avoid making life more difficult for your new family members in the event of your severe illness or death, even if that happens decades down the road. If you have just welcomed a child or your marital status has recently changed, contact a Bronx estate planning lawyer.

Less Is More With Young People’s Estate Plans

When you are under 50, the fact that you have an estate plan at all is a win. Unless you have a serious illness that increases your risk of an early death, your estate plan can be simple. Write a medical advance directive expressing your wishes about healthcare in the event of a worst-case scenario medical emergency. Write a will, even if you do not own much property. If you have minor children, indicate in your will who will be the children’s guardian if both parents die before the children reach adulthood.

Divorced and Widowed People Should Review Their “I Love You” Wills

Estate planning lawyers sometimes refer to the wills written by the parents of young children as “I love you” wills. In this kind of will, the testator leaves the whole estate to the surviving spouse, and if the spouse predeceases the testator, the couple’s children inherit the entire estate. This is fine while you and your spouse are both young and healthy.

If your spouse dies, the old will leaves your entire estate to your children. That is fine unless you get remarried. If you remarry, you should sign a prenuptial agreement that addresses inheritance, and then you should update your will so that it matches your prenup.

Likewise, divorce automatically invalidates the spouse-related parts of your will; the probate court will interpret the will the same way it would if your spouse had predeceased you. If you remarry after divorce, you should update your will accordingly.

Schedule a Confidential Consultation With a Bronx Estate Planning Attorney

An estate planning lawyer can help you get your estate plan into shape if you are newly married or if you have a new baby.  Contact Cavallo & Cavallo in the Bronx, New York to set up a consultation.

Source:

leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0700-0799/0732/Sections/0732.201.html