Estate planning for married gay couples
5 wealth planning considerations for LGBTQ+ individuals and families
Even with marriage equality and other expanding legal protections, LGBTQ+ individuals and couples may encounter a range of issues unique from those of the general population when it comes to wealth planning. Family dynamics, marital status and a desire to sustain the LGBTQ+ society can affect potential charitable and estate planning choices. Ensuring the estate schedule accurately reflects one’s specific intentions may require close and frequent consultation with advisors and attorneys. And financial privacy, a priority for most wealthy individuals and families, may be especially vital. Those and other factors may insert complexity to the process of craſting a flexible, successful estate plan. Here are five planning considerations to preserve in mind.
Starting a family
Kim Stolz, a Private Client Advisor for Bank of America Private Bank and an active member of Bank of America’s Homosexual executive council, knows firsthand the tall costs for Gay couples starting a family. “When my wife and I had our first child, we were using my egg, a sperm donor, and my wife carried the child,” Stolz says. “By the time we wel
Trust and Estate Planning Strategies for LGBTQ Couples
This creates an important need for LGBTQ financial planning.
And while the barrier to marriage has been lifted, several years later 42% of same-sex households remain unmarried. This compares to opposite-sex couples, where fewer than 12% are unmarried partners.
Now factor in that many Americans pass away without a will, including those who are LGBTQ, the need for trust and estate planning becomes an even larger point of consideration within LGBTQ planning.
The decision to marry your partner is a personal choice, regardless of the law or if you are lesbian, gay, fluid, transgender or queer. This decision, though, does impact your financial life especially if you choose not to get married. The good news is that you can take manage of some financial matters on your own by implementing some of the following strategies.
LGBTQ Couples Can Protect Their Financial Interests
In your relationship, you may already be commingling your financial affairs. You may even eventually entrust your partner in all things financial. But this vow level also adds potential complexity when it comes to issues like future estate plann
Estate Planning for Same-Sex Couples Following the Respect for Marriage Act
After the unprecedented overturn of Roe v. Wade in the 2022 Supreme Court case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, other cases built on our constitutional “liberty” interests are at chance of being overturned. This includes the 2015 landmark case, Obergefell v. Hodges, which held that states are unable to disallow same-sex marriages. In response, Congress and the Biden Administration passed the 2022 Respect for Marriage Act.
But what does this signify for same-sex couples moving forward?
The Respect for Marriage Act did two essential things for same-sex married couples. First, it redefined marriage as “any marriage between two individuals that is valid under declare law.” This removed the “opposite sex” requirement from the federal definition. Although the “opposite sex” requirement had been deemed unconstitutional in United States v. Windsor in 2013, this new definition will safeguard same-sex couples at the federal level, even if Windsor is overturned.
Second, the Respect for Marriage Perform forces every State to recognize same-sex marriages performed legally in other States. Thus, as long as one S
According to the Office of National Statistics (ONS), it is estimated that 3.3% of the UK population aged 16 and over identified as lesbian, male lover or bisexual in 2022, an increase from 2.1% in 2017.
Find out more on sexual orientation statistics here
Whilst sexuality, as such, is not a key consideration when estate planning, it is crucial for same-sex couples to hand thought to some fundamental issues to ensure their assets are distributed according to their wishes. So, what should same-sex couples regard when it comes to estate planning?
In England and Wales, IHT exemptions and allowances for same-sex couples are broadly the identical as for opposite-sex couples, provided they are married or in a civil partnership.
Generally speaking, transfers of assets between spouses or civil partners are exempt from IHT, both during their lifetime and upon death. This means that under the terms of a Will, one spouse or partner can hand over on their entire estate, regardless of value, to the other without any IHT implications.
As well as exempt transfers between spouses or partners, married couples and civil partners contain the ability to move any unused portion of their nil-rate band (NRB) and re
Planning for Same-Sex Couples
Same-sex couples face one-of-a-kind estate planning. Since Obergefell v. Hodges, same-sex marriages hold been legal in all fifty states. Living trusts are often the estate planning vehicle of choice for the gay community for a number of reasons.
1. They provide for your significant other to be fit to handle your assets should you become disabled. Powers of attorney and health care proxies/living wills are ancillary documents that also help insure that your partner will be in bill of all legal, financial and medical decision-making in the event of disability, free of interference from other family members.
2. Will planning has fallen into disfavor because (a) wills are significantly easier to question than trusts (b) a notice of the proceeding must be given to your closest legal heirs, providing them with an opportunity to object (c) the will is a public write down , eliminating privacy, and (d) the legal process may be time consuming, possibly delaying the surviving partner's access to needed funds.
3. Simply putting your partner's name on your assets, or connected tenancy, seems to be a plain solution to many, until they grasp of the pitfalls. First, for appr