What happens to all your money if you die first?

17 Aug 2023 · 1 min

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1:01

In this video, Jerry Taylor explains the hidden risks of traditional estate planning that leaves all assets to a surviving spouse. He highlights that if the surviving spouse remarries, the assets intended for the children can become part of the new marital estate and may be lost through divorce or a new spouse’s estate plan. Citing statistics that men are eight times more likely to remarry than women, Taylor stresses that relying on a simple will can jeopardize a parent’s intended legacy. He recommends establishing a trust that earmarks a portion of the estate to support the surviving spouse while protecting the remainder for the children, regardless of who dies first. The talk serves as a practical guide for individuals to proactively structure their estate to safeguard their children’s inheritance against future remarriage or changes in the spouse’s estate planning.

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What happens to all your money and property that you leave behind to your spouse if you're the first to die and then your spouse remarries? Most people plan to leave everything to their spouse if they were the first to die, knowing that after their spouse died, then all their assets would make it to the kids. And what's the likelihood of your spouse remarrying? Well, for men, the odds are pretty good. Men are 8 times more likely to get married than women. But either way, if your spouse were to remarry, everything you left behind to your spouse thinking that it would then get to the kids could easily become part of the marital estate with their new spouse. And if that new marriage were to end in divorce, your money could end up in the hands of your husband's next wife or vice versa. No one ever knows what's going to happen in life and your spouse could change their estate plan, their will or the trust. Your kids might not receive what you always thought they would. So what can be done? You can create a plan now in a trust to protect a part of the estate regardless of who is the first to die. The money you put aside and protect could support the spouse during life, but