An article published by NerdWallet on January 14, 2020, entitled “Does Marriage Have to Mean Merging Money?” by Alice Holbrook discussed the pros and cons of couples merging their finances or combining their assets after they get married. I strongly…
People often say that you only need an estate plan if you have a lot of money and/or a lot of assets. That statement is not necessarily true.
Reason 1: An estate plan is also important for medical and simple financial decisions, especially for a spouse in the event of disability or incapacity. It makes the entire process a lot more stress-free and simple for the spouse.
If something happens to me, my spouse will inherit everything I have anyway, so why do I need to make an estate plan?
Under New York law, the answer as to whether you can disinherit your spouse is … not really.
In New York, there is something called the spousal right of election, which states that a surviving spouse has the right to assert his or her right to elect to inherit a portion of your net estate. As a result of this law, you cannot disinherit your spouse without your spouse’s waiver of this right.