Remarriage can be a joyful new period of your life. It can also bring certain practical concerns, including how to write or update your estate plan to address your new familial situation. After a second or third marriage, your blended family can be complex, and your assets have likely shifted a lot. Working with a Tulsa estate planning attorney can help you determine what alterations you should make to your estate plan after remarriage.
There are several things an estate plan can establish, including the inheritance rights of your ex-spouse(s), spouse, children, and other family members. There are also many designations in your estate plan that you may have given to an ex-spouse or other party that you should change to your current spouse. Reviewing these changes may not be your immediate priority after remarriage, but it is crucial to maintaining the benefits of your estate plan.
Why Is Estate Planning Important?
In any family, comprehensive estate planning can do some of the following:
- State the beneficiaries of your estate and assets
- Place an individual in charge of your estate’s administration
- Name your preferred guardians for your minor children
- Put someone you trust in charge of medical, legal, and/or financial decisions if you are incapacitated
- State your preferences for medical care if you are incapacitated
- Limit or avoid a lengthy probate process
The more complex someone’s assets and family unit are, the more potential for conflict and complex issues to arise. Under intestate law, children from a prior marriage and your ex-spouse may receive no assets from your estate, even if you want them to. A complete and straightforward estate plan is crucial to outline your wishes and ensure all your loved ones are given the financial support your estate can provide.
What Aspects of an Estate Plan Should I Consider After Remarriage?
There are many things you should consider when reviewing your estate plan, including what assets are and are not in your estate and how you and your current spouse would like to address separate and marital assets. You and your spouse may want to create a marital agreement or a joint estate plan to address your unique financial circumstances.
The modifications you make to your estate plan will vary based on your personal wishes, the needs of your family members and beneficiaries, and your unique estate assets. Your estate plan allows you to address your children from prior relationships, your spouse’s children, and any children you plan to have together. You and your spouse can discuss options for benefiting your blended family.
Some of the areas you should consider when updating your estate plan include:
- Power of Attorney Documents: When you name someone as your power of attorney, they can make certain decisions on your behalf. In an estate plan, this power is often granted in a situation where you are incapacitated. Many people name their spouse as their power of attorney. You may or may not have changed your power of attorney after divorce, and in either case, you may want to add your current spouse as your power of attorney.
- Beneficiary Designations: You name beneficiaries to assets and accounts in your estate plan in a will, trusts, and on accounts and policies. These designations may need a review after a remarriage. You may want to add or remove certain family members from those designations.
- Your Children and Step-Children as Heirs: If you do not update your will and trust, your new children and step-children may not inherit from your estate. Determining the benefits that all your children inherit is an important part of updating your estate plan.
- Marital Trusts: Establishing trusts are important tools for providing inheritance to your current spouse while also ensuring each of your children is provided for. You can designate who gets what assets in the trust and how it must be distributed in different circumstances.
FAQs
Q: How Does Divorce Affect Estate Planning?
A: Divorce is an important time to reevaluate any existing estate plans because your assets and the people in your life have likely changed significantly. Some areas in your estate plan you may need to change include:
- Which assets do you intend to pass to your beneficiaries and remove any assets you no longer own?
- The power of attorney abilities, primary beneficiary status, executor responsibilities, or assets you gave to your ex-spouse
- The guardian you assign for any minor children
Q: Does Marriage Override a Trust in Oklahoma?
A: Marriage or remarriage when you have an existing trust in Oklahoma can override the provisions in your trust, but not always. If you want your trust to change after marriage, there are provisions you should include within your trust. You can discuss your situation with an estate planning attorney and with your spouse to determine what the right legal steps are to financially protect you and your family.
Q: How Do You Split an Estate in a Blended Family?
A: Proper estate planning is incredibly useful to split an estate into a blended family. Intestate laws split assets between your family members after you pass but may not benefit all the individuals in your family. This is especially true when you have a larger and more complex family unit. A trust allows you to name your estate’s beneficiaries and enables you to have complete control over what assets your spouse, ex-spouse, and children receive after you pass.
Q: Does Divorce Affect Beneficiary Designation?
A: Whether divorce affects beneficiary designations will depend on what the beneficiary destination is for. In Oklahoma, if you pass after divorcing your spouse, your estate is distributed as if they predeceased you. This effectively disinherits your ex-spouse.
However, this automatic removal does not apply to estate plans, including trusts, wills, and most beneficiary designations. You must manually choose to remove your ex-spouse from those designations. Some beneficiary designations are voided, like those for an Oklahoma pension.
Contact Stange Law Firm in Tulsa, Oklahoma
Life changes can significantly affect your estate plan, and marriage or remarriage is a big life change. The Tulsa, Oklahoma estate planning attorneys at Stange Law Firm can help you update your estate plan to meet your needs. Contact our firm today.
