Protecting Your Children's Inheritance After Remarriage

It is common for people to remarry later in life after amassing wealth, but how do you plan for your estate to provide for your new spouse and adult children? It is essential for spouses to spend the time necessary to create an estate plan that protects their children’s interest. One way to safeguard your children’s inheritance is to bequeath a specific gift to them through your will. You can also make them beneficiaries of assets that are not governed by a will, like IRAs, 401(k)s, and insurance policies. Similarly, making inter vivos gifts during your lifetime are a great way to protect your children’s legacy. An easy way to protect your children’s inheritance is to create a trust, which gives your spouse some interest during his or her lifetime with the assets distributed to the children at their death. Additionally, creating a prenuptial or marital property agreement can help clarify your inheritance wishes. Overall, an estate plan should be a necessary part of protecting your legacy for your children.

See How to Safeguard Your Children’s Inheritance if You’ve Remarried, Forbes, May 3, 2017.

Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (Professional Legal Marketing (PLM, Inc.)) for bringing this article to my attention.