Alternative Lifestyles Estate Planning
Wednesday, June 24th, 2009 at 8:57 am
When you say “alternative lifestyle,” it encompasses anything except a legal union of man and woman as a husband and a wife. But whether you know how to use this term or not, estate planning’s surrounding laws are still predicated on specific family structure. In many cases, that family structure doesn’t exist, that’s why particular attention needs to be given to estate planning.
For instance, the existing federal estate tax system is allowing unlimited marital deduction coming from estate taxes. Simply put, even if you’re as rich as Bill Gates, there’s no federal estate tax when you leave all your money to your surviving spouse.
Because federal definition of marriage says that “it’s a legal union between a man and a woman as one husband and wife,” you need to make a different planning technique because unlimited marital deduction isn’t available to you.
Moreover, state and federal laws have default provisions and there are certain rights granted automatically to a spouse. So if you don’t have a spouse, no one will have those automatic rights.
Estate planning may be difficult for many people. However, you need to take a very active role to determine your estate plan so that you can make the decision to pass on your estate to the right person when you’re gone. It’s best to seek the help of estate planning attorneys to assist you.
Tags: alternative lifestyle, attorneys, Estate Planning, Estate planning attorneys, federal estate tax system, marriage