A Review Of Estate Planning Rights After The Supreme Courts Rulling On Same Sex Marriages
Now that the United States Supreme Court has deemed the refusal of states to allow same sex marriages unconstitutional, same sex couples in all fifty states may now marry, divorce and establish estate plans as spouses. This is a good time to review the rights of married couples with respect to estate planning and the steps that couples should consider taking to ensure that their wishes are carried out properly.
In Ohio, surviving spouses have certain statutory rights to the deceased spouse’s probate estate. In essence, you can’t completely disinherit a spouse. Under Ohio law, a surviving spouse receives a number of benefits, including, but not limited to, a family allowance of the first $40,000 of the estate, the first two automobiles not specifically bequeathed, the right to live in the marital residence rent free for a year, the right to take against the will, etc. Spouses also have certain property rights in divorces, such as the right to share in marital property and possibly spousal support. However, many of these rights may be waived by executing an antenuptial agreement before marriage. With an antenuptial … Read More... “Estate Planning: Same Sex Relationship Estate Planning”
Effective March 27, 2013, the Ohio 
Due to the sputtering economy, the baby boomer generation approaching retirement age, and the ever increasing life expectancy, multi-generational households are becoming more common than they have been in decades. Due to the need to combine family incomes or in order to take care of an elderly or ill relative, grandparents, parents and children are sharing living space in increasing numbers. According to the Pew Research Center in Washington, D.C., in 2008, 49 million Americans or 16 percent of the population lived in households with at least two adult generations, an increase of 17 percent from 2000. This trend comes with numerous legal implications and issues, some of which are discussed below.
Many happily married seniors are facing a previously unthinkable proposition: terminate their marriage or risk losing a majority of their savings to medical expenses, leaving both of them with little savings to enjoy their twilight years, regardless of how well they planned in advance. How can this happen? With medical technology ever improving, allowing us to live longer, most individuals will spend at least a few years in a nursing or retirement facility during our lifetimes. With the baby boomer generation approaching retirement age, more and more of us will fall into this category. How will these long-term care expenses be paid? The choices are private savings, long-term health care insurance, Medicaid or a combination. This is where the dilemma occurs.
I generally begin my articles for our Family Blog Web Site with a definition of the topic or subject that I am addressing, and this month’s article will not deviate from that practice. Finance is defined by Webster’s New World Dictionary as being “the science of managing money”. And, Financial Planner is defined by Wikipedia as “a practicing professional who helps people deal with various personal financial issues through proper planning, which includes but is not limited to these major areas: cash flow management, education planning, estate planning, investment planning, risk management and insurance planning, tax planning, estate planning and business succession planning (for business owners). The work engaged in by this professional is commonly known as personal financial planning. In carrying out the planning function, he or she is guided by the financial planning process to create a financial plan – a detailed strategy tailored to a client’s specific situation, for meeting a client’s specific goals.”