If you need assistance with estate planning, please read on, then contact an experienced Putnam County wills attorney to learn some quick facts about subsequent marriages and estate planning in New York.
How do subsequent marriages affect estate planning in New York?
If you are in your second, third or subsequent marriage and have children have one or more previous relationships, you may feel torn between the needs of your current spouse and those of your children. It is not uncommon for children from a previous relationship to dislike and/or quarrel with a stepparent. This is especially true in matters of inheritance. People can fight quite viciously if they believe they are not receiving what they believe they are owed. Whether or not that is the case for you, you should seriously consider reaching out to a skilled Putnam County estate planning attorney to discuss how to ease inheritance worries.
How do you account for subsequent marriages while estate planning in New York?
Like any reasonable person, you want to protect both your current spouse and your children in the event of your passing. If possible, you would also like to minimize or eliminate acrimony. That might seem like a massive undertaking, but along with your estate planning attorney, you should create a trust that includes the following provisions:
- Your current spouse will be your life beneficiary for the assets of the trust
- Your children from your prior relationship will be the final beneficiaries of the trust assets
If you do that, your spouse will have a limited set of rights to use the property in the trust during his or her lifetime. Your spouse will not be able to bequeath the property in the trust to anyone else, even any children he or she might have from a previous relationship. Upon your spouse’s passing, the property of the trust will revert to your children. Should your spouse predecease you, the property will directly pass to your children without any adjustments needing to be made.
How can a Putnam County estate planning attorney help you?
In order to achieve an orderly and civil transition of your property in the event of your passing, you will need to make your trust as specific as possible. While you can and should place restrictions on what your spouse may do with the property in the trust, you probably would still like him or her to live comfortably for the duration of his or her life. For example, you should address whether your spouse can rent the property and use the income from rent as well as who pays for maintenance and taxes on the property. This requires a lot of forethought, so please give us a call today.
Contact our Firm
If you or a loved one needs assistance creating an estate plan and wish to speak with an experienced attorney, contact the Law Office of Andres D. Gil, PLLC today.