Will A Second Marriage Derail Your Estate Plans?

A second marriage can introduce dramatic changes into your life. The financial implications of a second marriage can be significant. While many of the adjustments and changes to your life could have to do with child custody, alimony and division of property, it’s also important to update your estate plan after getting a divorce.

Keeping old estate planning documents empowers someone you might not want with the potential to make decisions on your behalf. In the ending of a marriage, it’s easy to overlook those old details as unimportant, but they are anything but. Your new family should be included in your thoughts about estate planning materials.

All of the money that you might have set aside for your own retirement could have been subject to a division of property, including your 401(k)s and real estate. You might have even been required as part of the divorce to maintain a life insurance policy, naming the first spouse as a beneficiary.

Newly married middle-aged clients often don’t realize that they need to update their estate planning documents to account for this second marriage. In order for second marriages to succeed and not destroy your retirement plans, it is important for both spouses to sit down and discuss one another’s retirement assets, finances and long-term retirement goals.

Coming to the table with a clear picture of what each party has and anticipates can minimize challenges and problems. A knowledgeable estate planning lawyer should be consulted as soon as possible after you have decided to get married.