November 2022

Most people think of estate planning as an exclusive affair that’s only for married couples. The truth is, unmarried couples should also take steps to protect their assets and plan for the future. In fact, unmarried couples have unique estate planning needs that married couples don’t.

Unmarried couples shouldn’t worry, though. There are ways to plan for your future without sacrificing your current lifestyle. Here, we’ll cover some of the biggest challenges that unmarried couples face when it comes to estate planning and how you can address them.

Joint Ownership

One of the biggest challenges unmarried couples face is how to keep assets in their name. This can be done by establishing joint ownership, where each partner owns 50% of the property. 

This establishes both partners as tenants-in-common, which ensures that if one partner dies, the other will have rights to their half of the property. Many clients choose joint ownership because it avoids the potential for probate if one of them passes away. 

As such, it provides peace of mind that assets remain between the partners and not in the ownership of someone else. If you need help establishing joint ownership, contact Doane & Doane Attorneys at Law and speak with an estate planning lawyer. Your legal counsel will ensure that you go through the proper channels to establish joint ownership and any other estate planning needs you may have.

Continue to Full Article Here

There is no question that couples are waiting a lot longer to get married than couples did 20 or 30 years ago. In fact, a recent study shows that as the marriage rate has fallen, the number of adults in cohabiting relationships continues to increase.  

Specifically, there are about 18 million people cohabiting, which is 29% higher than in 2007. About half of those in cohabiting relationships are younger than 35 years old. Further, since 2007 the number of cohabiting adults over the age of 50 has increased by 75%.  

What do those statistics tell us about the state of relationships in this country? It tells us that there are many more couples who are living happily ever after, but do not feel the need to solidify the fairy tale with a marriage certificate.  

The only downside to this trend for the unmarried couples out there is that, unfortunately our laws still favor marriage. Indeed, the legal system provides many benefits to married couples including:

• Hospital visits
• Joint tax filing 
• Spousal privilege
• Inheritance; and 
• Social Security benefits

Those benefits, and many others, are not afforded to unmarried couples under our laws generally. That said, there are things that you can do to ensure that you and your partner can still enjoy “marriage-like” benefits without having to get married. And that starts with an estate plan for you and your partner. 

Remember, when it comes to an estate plan, there are two main considerations: 

1.  How is my care handled if I’m incapacitated?

2. What happens to my assets if I pass away?

Given that, as an unmarried couple, the status of your partner’s decision-making ability on your care and assets is unclear, you need an estate plan to clarify them. In the full article, we discuss 5 tips to help you with your estate planning as an unmarried couple.

Call Doane & Doane to Speak with an Attorney

If you have questions about estate planning, call Doane & Doane today to speak with an experienced attorney. Our attorneys can help you navigate the complexities of the law and ensure that your assets are distributed according to your wishes. Visit our website today to schedule a consultation. You may also connect with us via our contact form.

Office closures in November: