After getting married one of the most important legal decisions that a couple takes is of estate planning. Estate planning is a way of ensuring that after you are gone, your spouse and your children are well taken care of. Thus, this article pertains to the various elements that a married couple must consider while estate planning. Proper and well-documented planning is the best way to distribute your assets among your loved ones.
What Is Estate Planning?
Estate planning is a legal procedure through which you can distribute all your belongings and assets among family members and friends who you intend to. Since it has to be done legally, care must be taken while distributing the assets to avoid a mess in the later times.
Why Is Estate Planning Necessary?
Here are some of the common and important reasons as to why any married couple should opt for estate planning.
- It helps you give control of all of your assets after your death.
- It ensures the financial stability of your family even when you are not around.
- You can have your own medical guardian just in case you are not in a position to make fair decisions.
- It makes the transition of property and assets to the beneficiaries and spouse pretty easy.
- Through estate planning, you can choose the person to administer your assets. This might not happen if the decision lies in the hands of the court.
- The burden of funeral planning can also be reduced through estate planning.
Estate Planning for Married Couples
There are so many reasons why estate planning must be considered by married couples. These are some of the important reasons and tips for married couples regarding estate planning.
Tax Deduction
It is one of the most popular reasons why married couples opt for estate planning. If you end up giving all of your estate to your spouse, you can actually lessen tax burden. This is called the marital deduction. The estate would naturally take a marital deduction for the amount of property your spouse inherits. But the thing is there is no limit to the marital deduction. If you want your spouse to take care of all your assets after you are no more than this is one of the best ways to do it.
Child Guardianship
If you and your spouse have minor children then it is necessary to mention the guardian of your children in the will. This is necessary as it will ensure the custody of the child after your death. In the case of death of both the parents then the child is given to a third guardian. Mostly the guardianship is given to the better half or to a very close family member.
Remember if you have no children or if you have children who are not minor then legal guardianship is not required in estate planning.
This same rule applies in the case of pets as well. You can appoint any guardian to your pet in case if something happens to you. You can legally give the authority to the appointed guardian through estate planning.
This shows that the field of estate planning is really very dynamic and you can use it to legally distribute all your belongings to the specific people of your choosing.
Marital Property Distribution
Marital property pertains to the property that you have acquired together as a married couple. It can be a joined account or a property or a car. Now normally if one of the partners dies, the property goes to the other obviously. But you need to discuss with your spouse who to give it to, in case you both meet with an accidental death. You can give the authority of your marital property to your children or a close relative who you trust the most. It is necessary to always pass on your assets to people who would take good care of it.
Health Care Planning
This is a must for people who are thinking of estate planning. Through health care planning you can give authority to your spouse to make medical decisions for yourself just in case you can’t do it yourself.
Conclusion!
It is highly essential for all the married couples to have proper estate planning and we hope that this article will help you in this respect. Call us and speak with an experienced estate planning lawyer to discuss your individual situation and see what type of estate plan can best help you!
