“The first thing to realize is that as soon as you marry, your spouse is granted certain inheritance rights under law. However, these rights of inheritance can be waived or modified by using an anti-nuptial agreement, or as its more commonly known, a pre-nuptial agreement.”
It’s always a good idea to review your estate plan, especially when a major life event, like a second marriage, is taking place. The use of a pre-nuptial agreements gives prospective spouses the opportunity to discuss one another’s rights of inheritance, and clarify a great many issues, says nwi.com in the article “Estate Planning: Planning for second marriages.”
There’s a second opportunity to sign an agreement detailing inheritance rights after the wedding takes place, called a “post-nuptial agreement.” The problem is that once the wedding has occurred and you are both legally married, you might get stuck with some surprises and, well, you’re married. For most people, it’s better to set things out before the wedding, rather than after.
There also may have been dissolution decrees in one or both of the couple’s prior divorces that have requirements which must be satisfied. A spouse may be required to maintain life insurance with the ex-spouse as a beneficiary. This can have an impact on the couple’s estate plan. It is recommended thay you have everything discussed up front in the pre-nup.
The rest of the steps are those that should be followed for any estate review.
Make sure that the last will and testament reflects your new spouse. If there are any mentions of the prior spouse, you probably want to remove them.
Verify how all of the assets are owned. Will they continue to be owned by just one spouse, or converted to jointly owned? Does your estate plan have a trust, and if so, are assets owned by the trust? Does there need to be a change made to your trustees?
Many people don’t remember how their bank accounts are titled. Fewer still can tell you who their beneficiaries are on their retirement accounts, life insurance policies and bank accounts. Remember: the beneficiary designations are going to determine who receives these assets, regardless of any language in your last will and testament. Once you die, there is no way to contest that distribution. Review your accounts and make sure that the beneficiaries are up to date.
Part of your pre-nup and estate plan review will be to discuss inheritance rights for any children in the blended family. Do you want to leave assets only for your children, or do you want to leave assets for all the children? It’s not an easy conversation to have, especially at the start of the blending process.
Remember also that blended family dynamics can change over the years. When you review your estate plan next—in three to four years—you’ll have the opportunity to make changes that hopefully will reflect deepening bonds between all of the family members. Your estate planning attorney will help create and revise estate plans, as your life circumstances evolve.
Reference: nwi.com (May 5, 2019) “Estate Planning: Planning for second marriages”
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