What happens to inheritance and child care if only one parent dies?
Let’s assume that Mary and John Douglas have typical young-family estate-planning concerns. In their early 30s, Mary and John have two children, ages 5 and 7. Mary and John assume that if one of them died, the other would use family assets to provide for their children. They discussed the possibility that the survivor could remarry and have more children, and they still felt comfortable leaving everything to the survivor. Their estate-planning goals were accomplished by titling their car, house and investments in joint tenancies with rights of survivorship so that if either spouse died, the property would pass to the survivor. They also have named one another as beneficiary on their life insurance policies.
