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Circle of Financial Health >> Plan >>
Ex-Family
Ex-Family
(This is an issue many people are uncomfortable with – yet, it is unavoidable: it will come up in probate if you don't deal with it now.)
A large percentage of marriages end up in divorce, many of them involve children. If you fall into this category, you have a special problem on your hands that you should think about.
To illustrate the point, here is a hypothetical case study for informational use only. Your situation may vary:
You divorce, re-marry, and have children with both spouses. After your divorce you forgot to change the name of the beneficiary on your investments, and you die. In the meanwhile your ex wife (or husband) have also re-married and willed her estate to her new spouse. Who do you think will get the proceeds of your 401k, or life insurance, or annuity or ... if she also dies?
You guessed it! It is her new husband and his children - or even his distant relative.
While you want to make sure that your own children are taken care of in the event of your death, you probably have no interest in benefiting the others - yet, we have seen this happening even if unintentionally. We urge you not to procrastinate but check your financial documents, or use our complimentary consultation to help you with this issue.
Here is an illustration of one of the many possible variations - and it could get even more complicated
Who do you want to protect and who are you actually protecting?
The red arrow shows the rout your 401k may take to end up in the hands of total strangers while your own children are left empty handed.
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