Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California
Wills
A married couple have no children and separate wills. Each will says their spouse will get 100% of their estate upon death. If both die, 50% goes to the husbands family and 50% to the wife's. They also have a verbal agreement that if one of them die, the 50/50 agreement will still be part of the remaining spouses will. Is there an additional agreement they can sign that makes this 50/50 verbal agreement legally binding even after one spouse dies?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Wills
Sort of. There are a couple ways to do this. Probably the best is to set up some form of a marital deduction trust (AB Trust) which moves the estate of the first deceased spouse into a secondary trust. That trust can distribute income, pay healthcare costs, provide living expenses, etc to the surviving spouse while they are living. Then at the surviving spouses death it pays out according to the wishes of the 1st deceased spouse. This has the secondary benefit of generally removing the estate from probate (how the State disburses the assets of a deceased person, it is generally expensive and drawn out), and it potentially saves the estate from paying estate taxes. Wills do not avoid probate in California.
Most Estate Planning Attorneys can assist you in creating this form of trust.
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