Estate planning is a useful way to plan for the future and protect you and your family’s financial well-being. It is helpful for any individual or couple, but there are certain benefits unique to LGBT+ couples, whether or not these couples decide to get married. Estate planning can enable LGBT+ couples to have the same rights allowed in marriage, safeguarding those rights when marriage equality is uncertain. A St. Louis estate planning attorney can help.
While it shouldn’t be the case, many LGBT+ members worry about the permanency of marriage equality. Whether a couple is or isn’t married, an estate plan can create rights such as inheritance rights, medical decision rights, guardianship of children, and other rights that are automatically provided when a couple is married. This allows couples to ensure they are cared for by their loved ones and that their assets will benefit their partner and their family.
How Can an Estate Plan Establish Spousal Rights?
Numerous documents can be included in an estate plan. They can dictate the distribution of your assets and legally establish other rights. This can mirror the rights afforded in marriage without the concern of these rights being revoked. Some of these documents include:
- Will: A last will and testament names the individual you want in charge of the distribution of your estate and the individuals you want certain assets in your estate to pass to. Marriage allows a spouse to automatically inherit under succession law, but unmarried couples do not get this inheritance right.
If you are estranged from your family members who would inherit under succession laws, this can prevent them from benefiting from your estate. You can also name a guardian for your minor children.
- Trusts: Trusts can list the distribution of assets and the individual in charge of those assets just like a will, but it avoids probate court. This can be especially useful if you believe other individuals will try to contest your will to prevent your partner from benefiting from your estate. It can also increase privacy for LGBT+ individuals who prefer not to have their will and its assets as part of public records.
- Advance Directives: Advance medical directives allow you to state your wishes for healthcare if you are incapacitated. This can protect your well-being and prevent family members from making decisions for you that you wouldn’t want.
- Powers of Attorney: Establishing power of attorney means you can place someone in charge of crucial decisions, such as your partner. Powers of attorney in estate plans are often durable, meaning they are used if you become incapacitated. You can put someone you trust in charge of financial and medical choices. This can give you peace of mind.
You can decide which rights you and your partner wish to provide for each other. A St. Louis estate planning lawyer can help you determine what documents support your goals.
LGBT+ Estate Planning for Your Children
Another crucial aspect of estate planning that is important for LGBT+ couples is planning for the care and financial support of their children. Children of LGBT relationships are often adopted or are the biological child of only one partner. When this is the case, estate planning can be important.
Creating an estate plan enables you to name your partner as your child’s guardian. It also allows you and your partner to determine who else you would consider as a primary guardian. That way, your children are not placed in the care of a family member with whom you don’t want them to be raised.
Estate planning also allows you to ensure your children inherit from you. You can list assets for your children to inherit in a will or a trust. These rights are especially important for a partner who is not the legal parent of their child.
FAQs
Q: What Is the Main Purpose of Estate Planning?
One of the main purposes of estate planning for individuals is to help them protect and preserve their assets and ensure those assets are passed on to the individuals, entities, and causes they want to support after their death. This ability to plan for the future of your estate can give you more certainty in the future. An estate plan can also help with other forms of planning for the future.
Q: How Important Is Estate Planning for Unmarried Couples?
Estate planning is very important for unmarried couples. There are many personal reasons a couple may not marry, but marriage can provide certain automatic legal benefits. An estate plan can allow unmarried couples to establish the rights they wish each other to have. When a couple is unmarried, a partner does not automatically inherit like a spouse does. An estate plan can outline the distribution of assets and provide other important rights.
Q: Which Estate Planning Strategies Are Useful to Unmarried Cohabitants?
There are many estate planning strategies that can be useful to unmarried cohabitants, depending on the rights and abilities a couple would like. Estate plans can enable unmarried cohabitants to have important legal rights.
By naming your cohabitant in the power of attorney documents, you can outline the rights they have to make decisions on your behalf. This may include financial decisions, medical choices, and other abilities. These rights may be enabled for times when you cannot make these choices.
Q: What Are Reasons for Avoiding Estate Planning?
People avoid estate planning because it is unpleasant to consider a future where they are incapacitated or deceased. They often feel like such a situation is a long way away. These are difficult life circumstances to think about. Making an estate plan often requires people to address and think about death to create a useful estate plan. Estate plans can also be complex, making the process even harder.
Contact Stange Law Firm in St. Louis, MO
An estate plan has to be legally enforceable to prove an LGBT+ couple with benefits. A skilled attorney is crucial to drafting effective and valid estate planning documents that address your family’s unique needs. Contact Stange Law Firm to learn how we can help you.
