After getting married, one of the most important legal decisions a couple makes is estate planning. Estate planning ensures that after you are gone, your spouse and your children are well taken care of. Thus, this article pertains to the various elements that a married couple must consider during estate planning. Proper and well-documented planning is the best way to distribute your assets among your loved ones.

What Is Estate Planning?

Estate planning is a legal procedure through which you can distribute all your belongings and assets among family members and friends who you intend to. Since it has to be done legally, care must be taken while distributing the assets to avoid a mess later.

Why Is Estate Planning Necessary?

Here are some of the common and essential reasons any married couple should opt for estate planning.

Estate Planning for Married Couples

There are so many reasons why married couples must consider estate planning. These are some significant reasons and tips for married couples regarding estate planning.

Tax Deduction

It is one of the most popular reasons married couples opt for estate planning. If you give all of your estates to your spouse, you can lessen the tax burden. This is called the marital deduction. The estate would naturally take a marital deduction for the amount of property your spouse inherits. But the thing is, there is no limit to the marital deduction. So if you want your spouse to take care of all your assets after you are no more, this is one of the best ways.

Child Guardianship

If you and your spouse have minor children, then it is necessary to mention the guardian of your children in the will. This is necessary as it will ensure the child’s custody after your death. In the case of the end of both the parents then, the child is given to a third guardian. Mostly the guardianship is given to the better half or a very close family member.

Remember, if you have no children or children who are not minors, then legal guardianship is not required in estate planning.

This same rule applies in the case of pets as well. You can appoint any guardian to your pet if something happens to you. You can legally give the authority to the appointed guardian through estate planning.

This shows that the estate planning field is very dynamic, and you can use it to legally distribute all your belongings to specific people of your choosing.

Marital Property Distribution

Marital property pertains to the property you have acquired together as a married couple. It can be a joined account or a property, or a car. Generally, if one of the partners dies, the property goes to the other. But it would help if you discussed with your spouse who to give it to if you both meet with an accidental death. You can provide the authority of your marital property to your children or a close relative who you trust the most. It is necessary to always pass on your assets to people who would take good care of them.

Health Care Planning

This is a must for people who are thinking of estate planning. Through health care planning, you can give authority to your spouse to make medical decisions for yourself just in case you can’t do it yourself.

Conclusion!

All married couples need to have proper estate planning, and we hope that this article will help you in this respect.

A lot of people are more interested in planning their vacation trips rather than estate planning. They think that estate planning is only for the wealthiest in the world. But these people couldn’t be more wrong. Estate planning is an essential plan that should be included in everyone’s life. It is all about the safety and security of your family members even when you are not around. Thus, this article answers the obvious questions about why you should have an estate plan.

What Is Estate Planning?

Estate planning is the overall transfer of your assets to your loved ones. In estate planning, you can decide about the distribution of your investments among your loved ones. As a result, they can still be finically secure and independent when you are no longer around.

Why Do You Need an Estate Plan?

Here comes the obvious question of this article. We know that people are struggling with this question, and in the end, they think they don’t need an estate plan. But that is ultimately a wrong conception. There are so many reasons why you need to have an estate plan. Some of these reasons are mentioned in this article.

Estate Planning Allows You to Make Your Own Choices

Through estate planning, you can choose who gets what. You can easily divide your assets according to your own choice. The decision goes to the court in the absence of any estate plan. The court chooses who will get what amount of your assets. And this decision might not be in sync with yours. Most of the time, the family members start contesting regarding the asset distribution. This makes the relationship within the family very bitter. Thus, it would help to avoid such issues if you had proper estate planning.

It Will Protects Your Children

With people having children, estate planning can be of great help. Imagine that you do not have an estate plan and die suddenly due to an accident. What happens to the future of your children? How are they going to survive? To avoid such situations, you need to have a strong estate plan that will ensure that even after your death, your children will be financially independent and won’t be facing any troubles whatsoever.

You Can Reduce Your Taxes

A lot of your money can get eaten up due to taxes on your property. This can be easily avoided by having a good estate plan. You can consult your lawyers and financial counselors regarding minimizing the tax. Eventually, if you develop a healthy-structured will and estate plan, your heirs can be protected from paying this massive amount of taxes. Most couples go for this option to mitigate taxes.

You Can Continue Your Legacy

Estate planning is all about protecting the things and the people you value the most. By making a proper estate plan, you will not only take care of your loved ones, but at the same time, you can ensure the safety of all of your belongings. The assets that you have built through your hard-earned money need to be protected no matter what.

It Will Help in Business

For people running a company, a minor factor or a big organization. Estate planning is a must. This company needs to continue even after you are not around. Thus, you need to have an estate plan stating the power of attorney of your company so that after you are gone, your company is well taken care of. In the absence of any will or estate plan, your company might be seized by the government or fall into the wrong hands. Thus, it would help if you had proper planning for your business.

It Helps in Charity

It is not necessary that all of your hard-earned money has to go to your loved ones only. You can even donate an amount to charity if you want to. This can be done quickly using an estate plan. You can include your favorite charity in your will in your trust and the share of assets you want to donate them.

Conclusion

Whether rich or poor, estate planning must be a top priority. And the best time to do it is now!