Estate Planning for Second Marriages

Marriages don’t always work out. If you’ve ended a marriage, you may have met someone else later on who made you want to get married again. Many people get married more than once today, and while you may have already created your estate plans in the past, you’ll need to revise these if you’ve remarried. Even if you haven’t started planning your estate yet, you’ll need to be careful if you have more than one marriage. While estate planning for second marriages requires some additional considerations, you can ensure your plans contain everything you need by working with an estate planning lawyer.

At Tressler & Associates, we can provide the help you need to plan your estate carefully if you have more than one marriage. Our estate planning attorneys will be there to guide you through this process and help you explore the various estate planning options available to you.

Possible Estate Planning Solutions for Second Marriages

If you’ve been married more than once, there are more people you need to consider. You may have children from a previous marriage you want to provide for along with your current spouse, but you may also need to remove an ex-spouse from your estate plans. There are a few different methods couples in second marriages can use to ensure their wishes are followed. Here are a few common estate planning methods for those in second marriages. 

• Trusts – There are various trusts that can fit the needs of those in second marriages. Trusts can allow you to leave assets to your spouse for the rest of their lifetime, which will later be passed to your children following their death. This ensures your children don’t get left out in the future.
• Prenuptial Agreements – Prenuptial agreements are not only used to make plans in the event of a divorce, they can also be used for estate planning. With a prenuptial agreement, you can establish what the surviving spouse’s rights are after the other spouse passes.
• Beneficiary Designations – A beneficiary designation allows you to state a beneficiary to directly receive certain assets. This means you can use this to distribute assets directly to your children if you wish, rather than to your spouse. 

What Happens If You Don’t Have Estate Plans?

Estate planning is essential because with no plans in place, your assets will be distributed according to Tennessee’s intestacy laws. This means that your assets might not end up where you had hoped. Knowing how your assets will pass without any estate plans is especially important for those with children, as they may not receive the inheritance you had planned to give them. 

Intestacy succession works as follows in Tennessee:

• When there is a surviving spouse and no descendants, the surviving spouse may inherit the entire estate. 
• When there is a surviving spouse and descendants, the surviving spouse may inherit either one-third of the estate or a child’s share of the estate, whichever is larger. 

Spousal Elective Share

It’s important to understand what rights your spouse has regarding your estate. Surviving spouses may claim their elective share of the estate, even if the deceased spouse did not leave them this amount in their will. A spouse’s elective share depends on how long the couple has been married. A spouse can’t be fully disinherited unless they agree to give up their elective share of your estate in a prenuptial agreement. 

Contact Tressler & Associates for Assistance with Estate Planning Today

You want to ensure that your loved ones are provided for in the way you wanted, which can be a little more complicated if you’ve been married more than once. At Tressler & Associates, we know how important it is to feel confident that your assets are distributed according to your wishes. Everyone’s situation is different, so what will benefit them the most during the estate planning process will vary. We’ll work closely with you to ensure you have the proper estate plans in place.

Contact us today to learn more about estate planning for second marriages.