A growing number of people in Florida are deciding to remarry later in life, especially as “gray divorce” becomes more common and people live longer, healthier lives. If you are planning to remarry in your senior years, it may be important to keep your estate plan in mind. Celebrating a new romance can be a joyous occasion, but it is also key to keep your paperwork updated to reflect your current status. You don’t want your loved ones to be negatively affected later on simply because your estate plans were never updated. There are a few major items to keep in mind when planning for the practical side of remarriage.
Avoiding unintended outcomes
If you have adult children from a past relationship, it’s even more likely that you have some kind of estate plan in place. You may want to provide for kids, grandkids or even your favorite charity. When you decide to remarry, you may want to include your spouse in that circle. At the very least, you may want to ensure that your spouse can remain in your shared home even after one partner has passed away. However, this is where an estate plan refresh comes in. Some spouses wind up inadvertently disinherited because their new partner never updated their wills, trusts or other documents after the wedding. In other cases, everything may go to the new spouse, leaving kids and other loved ones excluded.
Estate plan updates provide protection
Both of these unwanted outcomes may be avoided with a thoughtful approach to estate planning, however. Reviewing your estate plan includes more than just updating your will to ensure everyone is included. There are certain types of trusts that can be especially useful in planning for marriage. In addition, you’ll want to update the beneficiary designation on your life insurance, retirement plans and other accounts.
Having an estate plan in place can give you peace of mind as you venture forward into a new phase of your romantic life at any age. An estate planning attorney may offer guidance on wills, trusts and other essentials that might help you to protect all of your loved ones.
