Second Marriage? How It May Affect Your Estate Plans

Second marriages are different in a multitude of ways. Goals have changed. Parenting conditions have often switched. The needs covered in estate documents have shifted.

With a first marriage, usually the estate planning documents were simple in their directives. Take care of whichever spouse survives, and then care of the surviving child or surviving children.

In a second marriage, many new variables have arrived. Do both spouses have children? Do both spouses have exes that still require some provisions in the event of death? Does each spouse have assets that remain separate from one another, even in marriage?

Here are six questions you might want to ask if you are in a second marriage (or preparing to be) and are considering your Will and other estate documents.

1. How Similar Are Your Estate Goals?

If your goals are very similar, then merging your estate goals and estate documents may be much easier than you had anticipated. You want to care for all of the children, you want to care for each other, and your expectations overlap. If that is the case, this might all be quicker than most other couples’ estate planning experiences.

2. Do You Have Provisions for Long-Term Care and/or Disability?

If either you or your spouse fall ill and require the assistance of Medicaid, then both your assets and your spouse’s will be considered “available assets” to pay for those medical services. In order to protect the assets of the healthier spouse, you should consider long-term care insurance.

3. Have You Named a Trust as Beneficiary?

Naming a trust to be the beneficiary for your life insurance policies and tax-deferred plans is smart. You can then control how the assets are distributed, to whom, and over how many years. The surviving spouse can then have lifetime income, but you can control the way other proceeds are handled. It protects those proceeds from creditors, divorce, remarriage, and even irresponsible spending.

4. Is Your New Spouse Considerably Younger?

If you have children, and your spouse is closer to your children’s age than your own, it could sow seeds of discontent. Your children may fear that your spouse is after your money. You can set your Will up so that, upon your death, your children receive some of the inheritance right away – perhaps through life insurance – so that all of your assets do not immediately transfer to your surviving spouse. Then, upon your surviving spouse’s death or remarriage, those inheritance assets can go to your children. This could alleviate some of the suspicious of your children, and reassure them about your spouse’s motivations and intentions.

5. Does Your New Spouse Have Far Fewer Assets Than You?

You can establish a “life estate” or a “QTIP trust” to help your new spouse. As in question #4, this would cover the surviving spouse until their death or remarriage, and then those assets would be earmarked to go directly to your children.

6. Do You Both Have Considerable Assets?

If both you and your new spouse are well-off individually, then you may prefer to keep your estate planning separate, and keep your assets separate. If this is the case, we recommend you have your estate planning attorney review those documents before each of you sign them – whether or not you are considering pre- or post-nuptial agreements. Not everything needs to merged, if you are both satisfied with your current, separate arrangements.