It could be easy to imagine an estate planning scenario involving two people who have been married to one another all of their lives who have children together and perhaps some grandchildren. Of course these types of traditional families exist, but during our current era divorce is very common.
As a result you have situations that require specialized courses of action. One of these would be when you get divorced and remarried after having children from your first marriage.
You probably want to make sure that your new spouse is financially secure for the rest of his or her life after you pass away. But at the same time, you may not feel comfortable leaving all of your assets to your new spouse for fear that your children may not be appropriately provided for after his or her passing.
Many people will execute a document called a qualified terminable interest property trust to obtain the best of both worlds. These legal instruments allow for your surviving spouse to receive income from the trust for the rest of his or her life.
However, he or she does not direct the transfer of assets left in the trust after his or her death. You name these beneficiaries when you draw up the trust agreement, and they would presumably be your children.
These QTIP trusts can provide a relatively simple solution to a delicate situation. To explore them in depth, simply take a moment to arrange for a consultation with a Hartford, CT estate planning lawyer.
Mr. Nirenstein is licensed to practice before the courts of the State of Connecticut and the United States District Court. He is a member of the Connecticut and Hartford County Bar Associations, and the Estate and Probate, Elder Law, Business Law and Real Estate Sections of the Connecticut Bar Association.
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