Getting Married Again? What To Consider With Estate Planning
Estate planning may seem straightforward to most people that are in their first and only marriage, with the options being clear to leave assets to your surviving spouse and children. However, a divorce with a second marriage can make estate planning much more complicated. For example, even though you are with a new spouse and have your own kids together, you may still want to find yourself wanting to leave things to children from your previous marriage. Here are some tips that will help you with your estate planning with an estate law services company.
Deciding Power of Attorney
If you end up in the hospital and unable to make decisions about your own treatment, you may have an opinion on who you want to make those decisions for you. It can leave you in a tough spot, since that decision-maker could either be your current spouse or a child from two different marriages.
It is important to decide who has power of attorney in this situation. Some people want the decision to be left with their eldest child rather than current spouse, especially if the second marriage has not been very long so far.
Deciding On Asset And Money Distribution
A second marriage later in life can lead to some confusion about what happens with your assets and money. Chances are that both of you have existing assets already, and may have a strong preference about who it goes to.
Know that it is possible to have all your assets go to children rather than your spouse, since a spouse will receive your assets and money by default if you do not have estate planning in place. Making this important decision in advance can help prevent some arguments about who gets which assets after you pass away.
You may also have specific requests over who gets certain assets, including an ex-spouse. If you do not list the distribution of these assets in your estate planning, it would be impossible for an ex-spouse to have a claim to something that they did not get during your original divorce proceedings.
Deciding On Final Wishes
Your estate plan is also where you can list final wishes, which may be confusing when so many other people are involved. For example, you might have burial wishes to be with certain family members, or for your funeral to be handled a certain way. With a second spouse and two sets of kids involved, it is easy for there to be some conflict about what to do if you did not specify your wishes.
