Getting engaged is exciting and magical! All of the planning and anticipation and then celebration is always a wonderful moment and memory. However, being engaged does not provide you with any new legal rights and this can be an issue for couples that put off getting married or take a long time to plan the perfect wedding. Here are three estate planning tips for newly engaged couples:
- Complete or update your Will. Before you were engaged, if you had a Will in place it likely left your assets to your family, maybe your parents or siblings. And if you have no Will in place, this is exactly who will likely inherit your assets according to the State of Texas. However, your idea of family is evolving with your engagement and it is very likely that you would now prefer your assets to vest in your future spouse. To ensure your future spouse would benefit from your assets should something happen, you need a Will in place which names them as your beneficiary. This does not have to be complicated and is done so that everyone you love is properly protected.
- Complete a Medical Power of Attorney. This is incredibly important should anything happen medically and you prefer your future spouse to be able to make medical decisions for you, rather than your parents or siblings or some other family member. Your future spouse is not legally allowed to assist you until the marriage is legal and complete. As such it is crucial while you are engaged that the person most important to you is allowed to assist with any needed medical decisions.
- Don’t forget to change beneficiary designations. While a Will controls the disposition of most assets upon your passing, it does not control those assets or accounts that have beneficiary designations such as bank accounts, retirement accounts, and life insurance. Therefore, it is important after you are engaged that you update these beneficiary designations to reflect your best wishes and likely name your spouse, rather than whomever was named previously when the account or insurance was established.
While no one likes to think about death or incapacity, a little planning while you are engaged can go a long way to assisting you as a newly engaged couple and gets your best wishes on paper. It is easy to update these documents after you a married and a great part of my job is moving “fiancé/fiancée” to “spouse” – it brings me great joy to see the transition in your estate planning documents.