Record Your Wishes To Reflect Current Relationships
by Larry Parman (Parman and Easterday)People who get divorced are not remarrying with the same frequency that they did some years ago according to current census statistics. This of course does not mean that they are not entering into relationships with the same level of frequency.
Some people choose not to get married even when they are in a long-term committed relationship for various reasons. Of course, the implications that go along with financial merging would be part of that, and there are emotional reasons as well.
In addition, some people would lose benefits if they were to get remarried. These could include Social Security benefits or a retirement pension. Individuals who are receiving alimony will usually have to relinquish their rights to payments once they get remarried and this can also be a factor that leads to the decision not to remarry.
There are some people who have no such concerns. They simply decide to live together as committed partners without formally getting married for reasons of their own.
How you want to go about things is your personal business. But you do have to assert your wishes in a legally binding manner if you want your significant other to receive an inheritance and/or make medical decisions for you in the event of your incapacity.
If you don’t, your legal next of kin will be in line to inherit your resources and make decisions on your behalf, and this may not be in line with your true preferences.
Advance planning is important for everyone but it is absolutely essential for unmarried people in committed relationships. If you can see the logic here, take action right now to arrange a consultation with a licensed and experienced Oklahoma City estate planning lawyer.
Experienced estate planning attorneys Oklahoma City OK of the Parman and Easterday offers estate planning and business planning resources to residents of Oklahoma City OK. To learn more about these free resources, please visit www.parmanlaw.com today.
