Excellent advice from my friend Liz in Florida.
From the article:
Tighten your legal protections
Marriage equality does grant access to all U.S. citizens to marry, but it doesn’t provide legal protections in every facet of life, including financial and family protections. From Schwartz’s legal background, she says that same-sex couples can’t be too cautious, especially when it comes to matters of children.
Establish a Joint Tenants with Rights of Survivorship
First, establish and put your assets in a Joint Tenancy with Rights of Survivorship. Joint tenancy is a legal term that means that when one partner passes away, the other spouse automatically assumes full ownership of all their assets. This provides legal protection for the surviving partner from other par-ties, such as parents, siblings and even children from previous relationships, who claim rights to the assets because they don’t view same-sex relationships as equal.
Take, for example, the unfortunate story of Tom Doyle from New York City. Because the proper legal measures, including marriage, weren’t taken, Doyle risked being kicked out of the West Village home he and his partner, Bill Cornwell, lived in for 55 years. Doyle and Cornwell failed to properly sign the legal documents that would’ve made both equal owners of Cornwell’s house. Because they never got married, Cornwell’s nieces and nephew from a previous relationship tried to take possession of the home when Cornwell passed. Fortunately, it appears an amicable agreement was reached that will permit Doyle to continue living in his home until he passes.
A Joint Tenants with Rights of Survivorship also protects investment and bank accounts. This ensures that money the surviving spouse was counting on remains out of the realm of legal disputes.
Establish wills for both partners
Each spouse or partner should establish a will that spells out the owner of their assets upon death. Unless you agree otherwise, each will should inherit your assets to the other partner. Don’t forget to include a per stirpes clause in your wills. In the unfortunate event that you both pass away at the same time, a per stirpes clause specifies the sequence of heirs should the original heir, likely your partner or spouse, also not be alive. Per stirpes clauses are especially helpful when merging families with children from different marriages.
Update your beneficiaries annually
Beneficiary designations supersede wills. This too often surprises couples, including opposite-sex couples. Thus, update all the beneficiaries on all your accounts annually to align with your wills unless you and your partner agree otherwise.
A will designating your current partner or spouse as the heir to your assets does not override beneficiary designations you assigned prior to your current relationship. If you leave your ex-partner or ex-spouse as a beneficiary on any accounts, they have the legal rights to those assets when you pass away, even if you have since updated your will or remarried.
Acquire second-parent adoptions
Schwartz shares that many federal and state laws have yet to be updated since marriage equality passed in June of 2015. Many states have not updated the language in their state constitutions and policies to accommodate all the effects of legalizing same-sex marriage. This isn’t always due to discrimination but often due to lack of time and resources to update applicable laws.
“ Now more than ever, LGBT families need to button up their parental rights, and that can be costly. Parents should have an adoption completed even if [both partners] are already on the birth certificate because some states and countries won’t extend the marital presumption to benefit your family,” Schwartz says.
If you have or plan to have children, non-biological parents should legally adopt and be listed on those children’s birth certificate as the second parent. This may be challenging for same-sex couples in certain states where state constitutions haven’t been updated to allow two people of the same sex on the same birth certificate. That’s when an attorney in your state, such as Schwartz can help.
Store all important documents electronically
Finally, Schwartz advises that everyone electronically store all legal documents, including marriage certificates, wills, do not resuscitate directives and more so they’re accessible from anywhere in the world. None of these legal documents will help if you can’t find them or they’re too hard or far away to access in an emergency.
On the show, Schwartz suggests using DocuBank and other similar services. “DocuBank electronically stores all official and legal documents, including healthcare directives and emergency medical information, on a card to keep them accessible from anywhere in the world at any time of day,” she adds. Such tools are helpful in situations when time is of the essence and some medical professional questions your rights to visit your spouse in an emergency room.
Because we don’t yet have full equality in all 50 states, it’s important for LGBTQ people and couples to take extra precautions. Even if in your current state of residence your marriage is seen as equal and you’re adequately protected, a job transfer or family emergency can quickly move you to a state that’s less accepting of you or your relationship. The measures Schwartz shares and others will help protect you when you may need it most.