You should go to an estate planning attorney to sort things out and make sure both of you are on the same page about who owns what, who gets to stay where and for how long into the future.
In past generations, families were very close, there were few estates that had any tax liability, and children respected their parents’ wishes, both before and after the parents passed away.
No one marries with the intention of getting divorced, but about half of all marriages in the U.S. will end in divorce. Divorce and second marriages can complicate the process of estate planning and present a number of challenges.
Your obligations to your family or loved ones do not stop, even if you have already passed on. If your family, especially your children, are still heavily dependent on you, you can still provide for them through proper estate planning, even if you are no longer present.
It’s a well-documented fact that most people do no estate planning. Of those who do, the majority use a last will to pass their estate to a spouse or divide it among their children.
Trusts fall into one of two main categories. The first category is composed of those that are established while the grantor (one who establishes the trust) is alive and are termed inter vivos (while living) trusts.