Ladies and Gentlemen:
If you are getting married for a second (or perhaps a third) time in California, you must take at least a minute to read this post. Our most litigated trust and estate cases come from cases where there is WAR going on among the second spouse and children of the first marriage AFTER death. These cases are handled JUST LIKE divorce cases, except they are among kids and second spouses.
THIS IS YOUR TO DO LIST IF YOU WANT TO PROMOTE WAR:
1. Go to an attorney without your spouse knowing and do a trust. Don't get a written spousal consent regarding community assets. There's nothing like making your spouse feel betrayed AFTER you're dead.
2. Hide assets from your spouse.
3. When you go to an attorney, don't tell him or her about ALL of your assets or lie about whether the property was community or from community sources.
4. Do lie about the value of the assets to your spouse or when and how you acquired them.
5. Conceal a child from a prior relationship or marriage from your spouse.
6. Don't disinherit people who you think should not take from your trust or estate.
7. Don't bother with a prenuptial or post-nuptial agreement.
8. Never change your will or trust AFTER you get remarried.
9. Never update your trust.
10. Hand over money to children of the first marriage without written consent of your current spouse.
11. Marry someone 30 years younger, and leave ALL to her to the exclusion of your kids.
12. Wait just till you get very sick to prepare a trust or a will.
These are the top reasons why most trust and estates fail.
On the other hand, it is so easy to plan for your estate when you get married, or when you plan to get married for the second time. No matter how many times we keep telling people to plan in advance, many just don't make the time to plan their estate.
See a lawyer well in advance of getting married, preferably several months and discuss your situation. You could save your estate hundreds of thousands of dollars!!
Mina N. Sirkin is a Family Wealth Lawyer and a TV Legal Expert in Los Angeles, Ms. Sirkin is Certified as a Specialist Attorney in Estate Planning, Probate and Trust Law by the Board of Legal Specialization of the State Bar of California. [email protected]. http://www.SirkinLaw.com.
Copyright 2008 Mina N. Sirkin.
