Remarrying spouses have many decisions to make about how they may want to blend their families and daily lives. In addition, they also face some unique decisions about how they may share assets or what assets they may retain as separate property. Along with these discussions, partners should review their estate planning wishes to identify what they want to leave to their individual children and what they may want to pass to their surviving spouse.
As explained by Policy Genius, many people making an estate plan understandably want to make sure that their surviving spouse can have an income and be properly cared for. They also logically might want to leave some inheritance to their children. When the spouse is not the parent of those children, this can be tricky. A qualified terminable interest property trust, also called a QTIP trust, may be of assistance in these situations.
A QTIP trust allows a surviving spouse to receive a steady income from the earnings of the trust for the duration of their life while retaining the trust assets for the children of the spouse who established the trust.
Remarried partners should also be sure to update their beneficiaries for life insurance and retirement accounts. Forbes adds that a durable power of attorney and advance health care directive are equally important when drafting a comprehensive estate plan. For blended families, each spouse may want to evaluate a combination of a will and a trust together to allow them to appropriately accommodate the needs of the varying parties who may be beneficiaries of their estate.
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