Family Law Considerations for Summer Weddings 

It’s wedding season! Statistics show that about 30% of U.S. weddings happen in the summertime. While it’s natural for the couple to focus on happy things such as guest lists, catering, and honeymoon plans, many things change from a legal perspective when you marry. If you’re planning to marry this summer, here are some important family law considerations before you say “I do.”

Prenuptial Agreement

More and more young couples are considering entering into prenuptial agreements, often called “prenups”. Unlike in years past, when prenups were considered to be primarily for a wealthy fiancé or fianceé who wanted to protect his or her assets, today’s thinking about prenups is that they can address any number of different concerns and circumstances. For example, your prenuptial agreement can address the following issues:

• Family Finances – A prenup can create a framework around your agreed-upon family budget, projected savings, debt issues, and general family spending
• Estate Planning – Sometimes, a prenup is desired or necessary to allow the respective individuals’ estate plans to work as intended
• Separate Property Identification – A prenup can be used to make clear what separate property is brought into the marriage
• Property Ownership – The parties can agree in a prenup that certain assets will be treated as marital assets or separate assets
• Dispute Resolution – Prenuptial agreements can also be used to identify how disputes between the couple will be resolved in the future  

Many other miscellaneous issues can be included in a prenup such as division of housework, child-raising philosophy, and religious observances of the couple. It’s important to be aware that, in Maryland, many provisions will be held invalid if they are included in a prenup, such as alimony waivers and child custody. Because of this, it’s important to consult with a Bethesda family law attorney if you decide to draft a prenuptial agreement.

Essential Document Updates

Your will may require immediate revision to reflect your new marital situation and your desired distribution of assets. Maryland does provide automatic inheritance rights to surviving spouses even if you die intestate, but it’s preferable to have a properly executed last will and testament. In a marriage with no children, the spouse takes all of the assets. Where there are minor children, the spouse splits 50% of the assets with the children. If there are no minor children but there are adult children, the spouse receives the first $40,000 plus one-half of the rest of the estate. 

In addition, it’s important to update your advance directives. These typically include your living will, advance healthcare directive, and financial powers of attorney. If your fiancé is not already appointed in these documents, now is the time to do so to ensure that your preferences are honored during medical or other emergencies. 

Beneficiary Updates

Your life insurance policies should be reviewed to ensure that the appropriate person or persons are named as beneficiaries. In many cases, a fiancé will want to name their marital partner. It’s important to ensure financial protection during this time as a new family unit. 

Retirement accounts, including 401(k) plans, IRAs, and pension benefits, need beneficiary designation updates to reflect your new marital status. It’s important to be aware that, under Federal law, spousal consent is necessary if you want to name someone other than your spouse as beneficiary on certain retirement accounts, making these updates both legally necessary and practically important.

Name Change and Legal Documentation

If you’re changing your name, you need to consider all legal documents that may be affected, such as passports, drivers’ licenses, medical cards, Social Security cards, bank accounts, and similar documents. 

Tax Planning Considerations

Marriage creates new tax planning opportunities and challenges that affect your estate planning strategies. In most cases, the Federal marital deduction allows unlimited transfers between spouses during lifetime and at death without triggering federal gift or estate taxes. This provides planning flexibility for high-wealth couples. But be sure to check with your tax planning attorney if your spouse is not a U.S. citizen, as different rules may apply. 

Understanding these and other tax implications helps ensure your estate plan maximizes benefits while minimizing unnecessary tax burdens on your surviving spouse and other heirs and beneficiaries.

Protecting Individual and Joint Assets

Separate property protection becomes important even in loving marriages, particularly for assets you owned before marriage or inherited individually. Proper estate planning can help maintain the separate character of these assets while ensuring they’re distributed according to your wishes rather than defaulting to state law requirements. As explained previously, one way to handle this is to detail separate property assets in a prenuptial agreement.

Joint property ownership requires careful consideration of how you title assets acquired during marriage. Different forms of ownership create different rights and consequences, making it essential to understand options like joint tenancy with right of survivorship, tenancy by the entirety, and community property alternatives.

Planning for your Growing Family

Future family planning considerations should influence your estate planning decisions, even if you aren’t planning children right away. You should think about naming guardians for potential minor children, trust provisions for future family members, and other tax and estate structures that can adapt and change as your family grows. You want your estate plan to be effective through all of your life changes. Funding your future children’s education is another important consideration in your planning. Estate planning tools can help you maximize resources for future children while ensuring that you and your spouse maintain your own financial security. 

Contact the Law Offices of Brandon Bernstein, LLC

Planning for your summertime wedding is exciting, particularly as you focus on the events of that special day. But it’s important to start thinking long-term about how your new status as a legal couple triggers many estate, tax planning, and other considerations that are different from those as a single person. Where we don’t have the expertise to help you, we can refer you to our trusted professional colleagues who specialize in those matters. Contact us today to see how we can help you.