If you and your romantic partner have been in a long-term relationship with no plans to marry or to go your separate ways, you may “feel” married. It’s important to understand, however, that in some very important ways, you each lack legal protections that married couples have.
You don’t need to go down to the courthouse and tie the knot to get those protections. You do, however, need to put some estate plan documents in place.
Protection if you become incapacitated
All adults should designate someone to have power of attorney (POA) to handle their finances and oversee their medical care if they become incapacitated. If you want that to be your partner, putting the appropriate documents in place will save them the trouble of having to go to court to get POA and perhaps face disputes from family members at an already-difficult time.
It’s also important to have a living will to detail your wishes for end-of-life care and to name your partner to act as your health care agent. By codifying your wishes, they and your medical team will know what you want even when you can’t speak for yourself.
Designating the inheritance of your assets
If you want your partner to inherit any of your assets, you need to codify that in a will or trust. Every adult should at least have a will in place. If you die without one (known as “dying intestate”), state law determines who inherits your assets. Surviving spouses and children (if there are any) have primary inheritance rights, with other relatives next in line if someone leaves no surviving spouse or children.
However, Illinois intestacy law doesn’t recognize non-familial or non-marital relationships. Therefore, your partner could potentially end up with none of your assets if you died intestate.
There are other estate planning steps you can take like adding titling accounts and other property as joint tenants with right of survivorship (JTROS) or adding transfer-on-death (TOD) designations. You can name beneficiaries directly on your retirement and other investment accounts.
If you and your partner want to ensure that the bulk of your assets (or even selected ones) pass to the other after you’re gone – and that you can make decisions for one another in the event of incapacitation – you each need to do some careful estate planning to codify your wishes. Every situation is highly unique. That’s why experienced estate planning guidance can make all the difference in protecting your future.
