Legacy Assurance Plan: How Your Estate Plan Can Protect Those that Matter to You Most

Summary: Sometimes, the people who matter to you most may not always be the people with whom you share a biological or legal relationship. This is but one of many definite reasons why an estate plan is necessary. With your properly prepared and executed estate plan, you can make sure that you have control over your legacy and that, when you die, your wealth goes to the people you want to have it, and not to those who don’t.

If you’ve ever taken the time peruse the birthday card aisle at a greeting card store, you will notice a wide array of recipients of birthday well-wishes. There are parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews. You may also, if you look carefully, notice cards addressed to someone who is “like a daughter to me” or “like a son to me.” These cards acknowledge that real life can be somewhat complicated and come with gray areas.

To make sure than your estate planning goals do not get tripped up “gray areas,” set up a complete estate plan right away. With your estate plan in place, you make certain that those whom you love will be remembered, regardless of the legal relationship you and that person do or do not share. Generally, the only restrictions that the law imposes, when it comes to setting up the distribution provisions in your estate plan, relate to disinheriting your spouse (which is almost always forbidden.)

In other words, if for example, you have an estranged relationship with your biological children, but you have a step-daughter who has always been “like a daughter” to you, or a neighbor’s son who has always been “like a son” to you, you can construct your plan to reflect these relationships. The law allows you to give distributions, even large distributions, to non-relatives. You can even do so at the same time as you disinherit close biological relatives.

If you decide that your estate planning goals include disinheriting close biological relatives like children, then it is very important to make sure that the language in your plan documents is constructed carefully. Your plan should explicitly state that you are leaving that child or other relative nothing, or $1, or whatever sum you want. If you do not mention that person at all in your plan, then that could create an opportunity for that relative, after your death, to go to court and convince a judge that you accidentally left him/her out of your plan and that the judge should award him/her the same portion of your estate as he/she would have received if you had made no estate plan at all.

Some states allow for something called “equitable adoption,” where someone who was not legally adopted will be considered to have been adopted by a non-parent. For example, this might include a step-parent who attempted to adopt a step-child, but was thwarted by forces outside the step-parent’s control (like, for example, an inability to locate a long-lost biological father.) If you are deemed to be equitably adopted, then you become the legal child of that person. Several states, however, do not recognize the concept of equitable adoption. Even those states that do recognize it only extend rights between the adopted child and adopted parent. (In other words, even if you were equitably adopted by your step-father, that generally doesn’t give you the right to inherit from his parents’ intestate estates.)

All of these legal rules discussed in the preceding paragraph highlight the fact that such things as equitable adoption can be changeable and uncertain, and it is always best to take control of your legacy and create an estate plan. That way, you know where your wealth will go and that the recipients are the people who mean the most to you.

This article is published by the Legacy Assurance Plan and is intended for general informational purposes only. Some information may not apply to your situation. It does not, nor is it intended, to constitute legal advice. You should consult with an attorney regarding any specific questions about probate, living probate or other estate planning matters. Legacy Assurance Plan is an estate planning services-company and is not a lawyer or law firm and is not engaged in the practice of law. For more information about this and other estate planning matters visit our website at www.legacyassuranceplan.com.