• 24
  • September
    2011

The death of a husband or wife is an emotionally difficult event that can leave the surviving spouse shaken and unable to think clearly for a long time. It is also a time when the one left behind is required to make major financial decisions that will have a lasting effect.

It is uncomfortable to for couples to admit to each other that death is inevitable, and that each partner has financial issues regarding the other's passing as well as emotional ones. However, planning for such an occurrence beforehand will lessen the stress that the survivor feels when it happens. A marriage is, among other things, a business partnership, and estate planning is an important and necessary part of that pact.

When one partner has responsibility for paying all of the bills and handling the savings, he or she may not even realize that the spouse is not aware of many of the details of the daily financial dealings. If the responsible spouse dies first, the surviving spouse may not even know about the family's savings or how to access them. Even life insurance policies may go uncollected.

Florida estate planning attorneys regularly advise their clients to make formal plans that set out what each spouse should do upon the death of the other. Even things like making sure the death certificate is accurate can have an impact later when the survivor tries to collect insurance. There are so many legal and financial details to estate planning that it is difficult for couples to think of them all without profession help. The best solution is for them to sit down with a financial adviser or attorney who can walk them through the process.

Source: WSJ Money "Money Issues of Surviving Spouses" Sept. 18, 2011