There is lot take into consideration with regard to estate planning after you have gone through a divorce, especially if you have children. If you choose to get remarried you have another set of circumstances to address.
Let’s take a look at some of the details.
Existing Estate Plan
It is very likely that your existing estate plan is no longer going to be appropriate after your divorce on numerous different levels.
Your former spouse may be named on various different legally binding documents including advance health care directives. If circumstances allow for it you may want to work together with your spouse to sort things out as each of you go forward with a new estate plan.
You should schedule a consultation with an estate planning attorney as soon as you can so that you can make the appropriate adjustments.
Beneficiaries
When you get divorced, you probably no longer want your former spouse to be the beneficiary of insurance policies or financial accounts that may include the selection of a beneficiary.
You should certainly take action to change the beneficiaries if you do, in fact, want to select someone else.
Procrastination can be a problem. Many people accept the fact that they need to make adjustments, but they feel as though they have plenty of time to take care of it later.
Unfortunately people pass away unexpectedly every day, and you are certainly taking a risk if you don’t update your beneficiary designations promptly.
Remarriage
Many people who get divorced eventually get married again. When you are entering into a second or third marriage, you once again have to consider how this is going to impact your estate planning efforts.
Many people who get remarried already have children, and protecting the interests of those children is usually going to be part of the equation.
Premarital Agreements
It may be prudent to enter into a premarital agreement before getting remarried. These agreements protect both parties, and they can distinguish the personal assets of each individual entering the union.
Premarital agreements can also spell out a property distribution arrangement that would come into play in the event of a divorce.
Qualified Terminable Interest Property Trusts
If you want to make sure that your children inherit assets that you are bringing into the marriage, while still making sure that you provide for your spouse, you could fund assets into a qualified terminable interest property trust. The surviving spouse would receive income for life, but he or she does not have control over who inherits the remainder. When you’re creating the trust, you could make your children the beneficiaries and they would assume ownership of the trust after the passing of your surviving spouse.
