Estate Planning for Couples

14 Feb Estate Planning for Couples

Posted at 14:19h
in Estate Planning
by Phelps LaClair Law

Are You Celebrating This Valentine’s Day With That One Person Whom You Want To Spend The Rest Of Your Life With? Couples need to take several steps to protect themselves in the future. The steps will differ depending on whether the couple is legally married or unmarried. We’ve shared estate planning tips for both married and unmarried couples in previous articles–here are some of the highlights.

At some point, every couple needs to have that difficult conversation–what’s going to happen if one of us dies? In Arizona, married spouses will inherit assets acquired during marriage. This does not apply to assets that were acquired before marriage or to gifts or inheritances received by only one spouse. You will need to sit down together and list your assets. You can also decide to give each other powers of attorney or to appoint a legal guardian to your children.

Married couple should take the following basic estate planning steps.

1. Setup a living trust and fund it with important assets. Write your wills, and appoint legal guardians to any minor children. This is especially important if you have stepchildren or a
2. blended family.Update your beneficiary designations for your life insurance policies, retirement plans, and bank accounts.
3. Consider naming your spouse as your
4. power of attorney agent. This will allow your spouse to make medical and financial decisions on your behalf if you become incapacitated due to a stroke or illness. The law does not recognize unmarried couples. If you do not have an estate plan, your partner will not inherit your assets if one of you dies. Instead, the assets will be passed to a blood relation (usually parents or children). So if you are not married, but you would like to leave your house to your partner, or make sure they have access to your share of the joint bank account, here are the steps you need to take.Set up a living trust that names your partner as its beneficiary.

Write a will that states your intentions and names your trust as your main beneficiary. If you have children, you can use your will to name your partner as their legal guardian.Designate beneficiaries for your

1. bank accounts
2. , life insurance policy, 401k, etc. This simple step will prevent these assets from going through probate and your partner will not have to wait for a court’s approval. Place titled assets such as real estate and vehicles into
3. joint tenants
4. or fill out a ‘Transfer-on Death’ form. Protect Your Loved One: Schedule a Consultation NowEstate Planning can be a difficult subject to discuss with your partner. However, the sooner you take these important steps, the better. A consultation with an estate planning lawyer can be helpful! Phelps LaClair’s team is available to answer your questions and provide personalized advice based on the financial situation and your wishes. If you’re a couple in a committed relationship,
5. contact us to schedule a free estate planning consultation today.Photo by

Jemma Pollari

on Unsplash used with permission under the Creative Commons license for commercial use 2/14/25.

Story originally seen here