Estate Planning Without Children

Married couples without children who may be nearing retirement or have already reached retirement have two main tasks: One is to decide what happens to your property after you die.  The other, perhaps trickier, task is to specify who will handle your medial and financial affairs if you become incapacitated. 

Without creating a will or trust, state law will dictate who inherits your assets.  Generally, your assets will go to your spouse if you have no children, then your spouse’s relatives after he or she dies.  “This leaves the family of the first spouse to die disinherited and out of luck.  The side that inherits depends on the random order of who dies last.” 

Thus, if you do not want to risk disinheriting your relatives, or if you rather leave something to friends or charity, it is best to have a plan.  The simplest approach is for you and your spouse to execute “sweetheart” wills, leaving everything to each other and outlining who gets what after you both die.  Another approach is to transfer your assets, during life or at death, to a joint revocable living trust, which would spell out how the assets are to be distributed.  This avoids probate, which can be expensive and time consuming. 

It is also important to sign general powers-of-attorney and health-care documents empowering someone to make financial and medical decisions on your behalf if you become incapacitated.  While parents oftentimes appoint adult children, “people without children struggle to find someone they trust.” 

Spouses can appoint each other, but it is recommended to have a “Plan B,” which involves naming another, younger, person to serve simultaneously or in succession. 

See Carolyn T. Geer, Estate Planning for Childless Couples, The Wall Street Journal, Nov. 8, 2014.

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