Minnesota Wills & Trusts | Newlyweds And Minnesota Estate Planning - Minnesota Estate Planning and Probate Law

If you have just gotten married or are about to, the last thing you likely want to contemplate is death.

After all, such a happy time shouldn’t be marred by such unpleasant thoughts, right? Though no one enjoys thinking about end-of-life matters, like Minnesota estate planning, it’s much better to tackle some of these concerns early on in your marriage rather than putting it off until it is too late. Instead of pushing the conversation down the road, dive in early on, this kind of approach will make it easier to discuss such sensitive matters again in the future and gives you and your new family a leg up over others who would instead prefer to procrastinate.

Minnesota Wills & Trusts | Step 1

Rather than overwhelm yourself by diving into everything all at once, it is a far better plan to start with the easy stuff first, building a little momentum before grappling with the complicated and more confusing aspects of estate planning. One of the easiest things for a newly married couple to do involves changing account beneficiary designations (or making them in the first place). If you have retirement accounts, it is important to note that these are passed on automatically and outside of the confines of a will.

To ensure that your 401(k), IRA, insurance polices, bank accounts and health savings accounts are left to your new husband or wife, you need to ask your plan administrator about naming him or her as your beneficiary. Doing this guarantees that the accounts pass directly to your partner upon your death, creating one less thing for him or her to worry about.

Though naming a primary beneficiary is essential, it’s also possible that you and your spouse might want to consider naming a secondary beneficiary. On the off chance that both you and your wife pass away, who would you want the money to go to then? If you have someone in mind it doesn’t hurt to add them to the list.

Minnesota Wills & Trusts | Step 2

Now comes the will. Once the easy step of adding names to a list has been accomplished, it is time to start thinking about your wishes. You and your spouse should both discuss how you would want your assets distributed should something unfortunate happen. Though it can be an uncomfortable conversation, it’s an important one and shouldn’t be put off. While you might want everything to pass directly to your spouse, it is also possible that you want to provide for children from a previous marriage, parents or possibly even siblings. If so, make sure to discuss this in advance with your spouse so everyone’s on the same page.

After the talking is done, it’s time to get to drafting. If you’ve already written a will, congratulations, the work of updating or revising a will should be quick and painless. If not, now’s the time to consider approaching an experienced Minnesota estate planning attorney who can help you map out a complete plan.

Minnesota Wills & Trusts | Step 3

If you’re meeting with a lawyer about your will you should also tackle the issue of titling your property, you might as well kill two birds with one stone. Though most jointly owned property is held as a joint tenancy with right of survivorship (meaning one spouse’s ownership interest passes directly to the other spouse upon his or her death), there are other, potentially better ways to structure your assets. For instance, if you would rather have your interest in a piece of property go to your children, holding that property as tenants in common is the way to accomplish this. Talk to your attorney about what options you have and about which will work best for you.

Minnesota Wills & Trusts | Step 4

Once the money stuff has been dealt with, you can move on to the even trickier subject of health care wishes. Though you’re newly married now, bad things can happen at any time and having a plan in place in the form of an advanced health care directive and durable power of attorney are good ways to do this. Advanced health care directives explain to not only your spouse, but also your doctors what kind of care you want when you are no longer able to advocate for yourself. Health care powers of attorney and ordinary durable powers of attorney grant your spouse (or whomever) the legal authority to make decisions when you become incapacitated and are no longer able to do so. These documents are critical to guaranteeing your wishes are carried out should the unspeakable happen.

An experienced Minnesota estate planning lawyer can help walk you through the complicated process of establishing a workable estate plan. For more information on estate planning in Minnesota, along with a variety of other topics, contact Joseph M. Flanders of Flanders Law Firm at (612) 424-0398.

Source: “Estate Planning for Newlyweds,” by The Motley Fool, published at Nasdaq.com.