“While a prenuptial agreement (prenup) may not seem like the most traditional wedding-planning topic, it’s a key ingredient to a healthy marriage cocktail,” helloprenup.com explains. It’s not the agreement itself that helps a marriage, the authors explain, but the process, which encourages open communication between the couple about both financial and other important aspects of planning a life together and addressing difficult topics. With money being one of the leading causes of stress in relationships, couples are better off discussing the subject now rather than surprising each other later in the marriage.
Experienced in handling same-sex legal issues, at Geyer Law we certainly agree. With same-sex couples, there may be a lot of dynamics going on with family members who do not accept them; if there are child who have been, or are going to be adopted by a same-sex couple, there is the possibility that family members may challenge custody arrangements after one of the couple has died. It’s incumbent upon the spouses to name each other as beneficiaries in their wills and trust, and to give each other power of attorney (to ensure someone has authority to handle financial transactions if a person becomes unable to act for himself/herself) and to give each other the right to make medical decisions if one is incapacitated. Same sex couples with children need to look into stepparent adoption, and all couples have tax filling to discuss. While it may seem almost ghoulish to discuss funeral planning along with wedding planning, a complete estate plan for a same sex couple will cover each one’s preferences for final arrangements.
At our firm, we offer no tax advice (instead collaborating with our clients’ tax advisors), but we know that for same sex couples there are tax issues important to discuss, including gift-splitting to reduce estate size and revisiting beneficiary designations to reflect that someone may now be a spouse rather than a partner to take advantage of IRA rollover rules.
We realize, creating a prenuptial agreement is hardly as much fun as planning for the honeymoon getaway or for the color scheme for the refreshment tables. Still, when it comes to legal and financial matters, post-wedding surprises are no fun for anyone, and the kind of frank discussion needed to draft a pre-nuptial agreement is the best way to put all “four best feet” forward..
– by Cara M. Chittenden, Attorney with Rebecca W. Geyer & Associates.
