Estate planning is critical for any individual or couple, but particularly so for members of the LGBTQ+ community.
The Problems Estate Planning Solves for the LGBTQ+ Community
An LGBTQ+ couple can avoid numerous problems through proper estate planning:
- For a married LGBTQ+ couple, proper estate planning will ensure they get all the state and federal benefits of their marriage, while avoiding probate, maintainng their privacy and protecting their assets.
- For an unmarried LGBTQ+couple, proper estate planning will ensure their partner will have legal rights to make health care decisions, protect their rights to inherit assets from each other while avoiding probate, and utilize planning strategies to avoid the burdens of extra taxation when possible.
- A Living Trust can nominate the spouse or partner as the trustee, i.e. manager of their spouse or partner’s affairs, if he or she becomes incapacitated through illness or accident.
- The Health Care Power of Attorney can avoid potential problems if a spouse or partner becomes incapacitated. It allows a spouse or partner to appoint their spouse, partner or someone they care about to make health care decisions on their behalf if they are incapacitated. This prevents potential problems where a spouse or partner may not be given access to his or her incapacitated spouse or partner.
- A proper estate plan will ensure your assets are distributed to whom you want, when and how you want.
- The Living Trust guarantees privacy, through avoidance of probate and its process of opening court records. This is beneficial fr any LGBTQ+ couple who wishes for their relationship, assets, and disposition to remain confidential.An estate plan allows you to nominate the person you want to care for and raise any surviving minor children.