Do I need to consider my son’s possible divorce when creating my estate plan? You’ve lived most of your life in beautiful Orange County, working hard to build a life for your family. As you now sit down to create your estate plan, you may feel that you are being asked to consider nearly endless options and possibilities for the future. One such possibility that you may want to plan for is a child’s future divorce. Even if your child is too young to be married currently, at the time when he is inheriting your assets, he may be married or in the midst of a divorce.
Reasons to Consider a Potential Divorce When Planning Your Estate
While you have many important considerations to weigh when creating your estate plan, do not underestimate the importance of planning for a child’s potential future divorce. Following are five reasons why:
- If the child is married and had already received trust assets, those assets are likely to be reachable by the ex-spouse during the divorce proceedings.
- Similarly, if the child is married and is going to receive a distribution in the near future, those assets may also be reachable by the soon-to-be ex-spouse.
- Even if a child is happily married now, you cannot predict the future. Sometimes, relationships go sour. If this happens, you will be thankful that you planned your estate to account for this possibility.
- Even if a child is very young, it is important to remember that he will likely not be receiving an inheritance until many years down the road. At that time, the child may be in a relationship—even if the first distribution of assets occurs prior to a marriage.
- Even if you have a good relationship with your son- or daughter-in-law, in many cases parents do not wish for their assets to pass to in-laws. This is even more likely to be the case if the child is divorcing when the trust is being administered.
Do I need to consider my son’s possible divorce when creating my estate plan?Are you interested in learning more about how to create an estate plan that is right for your family? We encourage you to view our client testimonials page today to learn more about how we may be of assistance.