A review of your estate plan is always warranted after a major life change. A new marriage after divorce is no exception. If you have remarried, it is important to make sure your estate plan reflects your current situation. Below are a few problematic situations that can arise if you fail to update your estate plan after remarriage:

1. Unintentional disinheritance of your new spouse. This can occur if you fail to update your will, trust, or real estate ownership to reflect your intent to distribute assets to your new spouse or to allow your new spouse to live in your home after you pass away. Some state laws may pass your assets to your children rather than your new spouse if you do not specifically provide for distributions to your spouse.

2. Unintentional disinheritance of your children from a previous relationship. Oftentimes, spouses will leave their assets to each other with the expectation that the surviving spouse will eventually pass along remaining assets to the predeceased spouse’s children upon their death. Unfortunately, without a trust or another protective measure, your children may not inherit as you had previously planned if the surviving spouse alters distributions in their own estate plan.

3. Depletion of assets prior to the surviving spouse’s death. If a trust is used to pass assets to a surviving spouse with the remainder to pass to the predeceased spouse’s children, there is a risk that the surviving spouse could use up trust assets, often for medical or nursing home expenses, leaving little or nothing for the predeceased spouse’s children. Instead of a trust, you could utilize a life insurance policy payable to your spouse while leaving your other assets to your children to avoid this situation.

4. Unintentional distribution of assets to former spouse. While a divorce decree typically negates gifts to a former spouse by will, if you fail to remove your former spouse as a beneficiary on retirement accounts, life insurance policies, and the like, your assets could end up passing to your former spouse. In addition to keeping all beneficiary designations up to date, it is important to make sure your financial and medical powers of attorney have been updated to remove any powers granted to a former spouse.

For more information, see this helpful piece by Barron’s detailing potential solutions to these common estate planning mistakes after remarriage.

It may come as a surprise to older generations that the millions of young Americans known as “millennials” have now arrived into their adult years. Millennials may be even more surprised to realize that this means estate planning is now something that should be on the radar.

This week, The National Law Review provided a helpful synopsis of the most important estate planning considerations for the millennial population. These include:

1. Setting up powers of attorney for financial and medical decisions as parents do not carry this responsibility beyond age 18.

2. Establishing a will or trust to handle distribution of assets, care of children and pets, and social impact goals.

3. Creating a plan for the management of digital assets such as Facebook, Google, and other online accounts upon incapacity or death.

4. Accounting for student loans and how outstanding balances may impact an estate plan.

Millennials, it’s your turn to plan!

The phrase “better together” takes on new meaning when it comes to estate planning for married couples. Spousal coordination and a shared understanding of financial and legal matters are essential to the successful execution of an estate plan.

A recent piece in Forbes provides helpful considerations for spouses working through an estate plan, as well as tips to ease the financial and legal burdens on a surviving spouse once the first spouse passes away. Four key takeaways from this article highlight the biggest mistakes married couples make from an estate planning perspective:

1. Lack of shared knowledge of financial assets and legal documents. Oftentimes, one spouse manages financial and legal matters, which can leave the other spouse feeling overwhelmed and lost when the managing spouse passes away. Both spouses should know where financial and legal documents are located so they can be easily accessed upon the death of one spouse. It is also important to keep a joint account with funds for emergency expenses and funeral costs that both spouses know how to access.

2. Individually-held accounts that do not name the spouse as beneficiary. Assets that do not transfer automatically through a beneficiary designation will pass through the probate court. This often means the surviving spouse will incur expenses that could have been avoided by utilizing beneficiary appointments or payable on death designations.

3. Failure to fund a trust that has been created. While a trust can be a very useful tool, trust language only applies to assets that have been titled in the name of the trust. Unfortunately, many neglect to actually place their assets into the trust, rendering the distributions spelled out in the trust ineffective.

4. Improper coordination of assets outside of a trust. Beneficiary designations made on retirement accounts, life insurance policies, and the like often conflict with distributions laid out in a subsequently-created estate plan. As such, assets that one might intend to pass through a trust or other estate planning tool will instead pass according to the previously-made beneficiary appointments. Whether or not a trust is utilized, it is always important to double check beneficiary designations to ensure proper coordination with an estate plan.

As with most marital matters, communication is the foundation of a solid estate plan.

If you are newly engaged or married, updating your estate plan is an important part of establishing your new life together with your spouse. Below are a few estate planning considerations for newlyweds:

1. Beneficiaries: After getting married, you may wish to update your beneficiary designations on retirement accounts, brokerage accounts, and life insurance polices to include your new spouse.

2. Property Titles: If you own real property or a vehicle prior to your marriage, you may choose to update your title to add your spouse as a joint titleholder.

3. Wills: You will likely wish to account for your new spouse as a beneficiary in your will. Additionally, if you plan to have children, you can utilize your will to choose a guardian and make a plan for passing assets to your children.

4. Powers of Attorney: Spouses typically designate each other as primary agents for purposes of making financial and medical decisions in the event of incapacitation.

Show your new spouse some love by planning for the future.

For new parents, developing an estate plan can seem like a daunting task.  Where do you even begin to make sure that your little ones are taken care of if the unthinkable happens?  The four special considerations below provide a good starting point for parents of young children who are ready to get their estate plan in order:

1. Appoint a guardian in your will to take over parenting responsibilities in the event that you and your children's other parent pass away.  Although this is typically the hardest decision for parents to make, a court will choose an individual to take over if you fail to name a guardian on your own.

2. Select a trusted individual or financial institution (a trustee) to handle your assets on behalf of your children if you pass away while they are still young.  This could be the guardian you have appointed, or you may choose another individual to act as trustee if you prefer to keep powers separate.

3. Choose an age or life event or achievement at which time you would like your children to receive your assets outright without the involvement of a trustee.  Many parents prefer to withhold outright distribution of assets until children exceed college age, but distribution could also be contingent upon milestones such as graduation, marriage, or purchase of a home.

4. Check your listed beneficiaries on life insurance, retirement, and other types of accounts to make sure your primary and alternate beneficiaries are up to date.  Any such beneficiary designations will occur automatically upon your death and will trump gifts made in your will.

If you take the time to think through these four considerations, you are well on your way to making sure your children are taken care of by your estate plan.

Whether you are planning a wedding this year, or you have been married for 50 years, this helpful article from A Practical Wedding outlines four major planning discussions you should have with your spouse.  Writing your wills, purchasing life insurance, preparing living wills, and documenting various aspects of life can go a long way toward making an unexpected situation much simpler for your spouse or other loved ones to manage.

Thank you for a wonderful 2016, and best wishes for a safe and happy 2017!