when clients remarry

six questions to ask.

by ed mendlowitz
the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 practice doctor

this is primarily a financial planning service for people who are in second marriages, and where there are children from prior marriages.

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who needs this service

this is a valuable service for every remarried client who has children from a former marriage.

why the accountant is suited to offer this service

these services use the tax and financial planning skills we have. we also have extensive experience with clients in such relationships and are usually familiar with conflicts that can arise and which ones can be avoided with some sound prior planning.

introducing a client to the service

ask second marriage clients whether they have made suitable financial arrangements for their spouse and whether they understand the legal financial rights each party has. following are some preliminary questions you can ask clients about to remarry. these questions can help lead the client to seek your guidance:

1. who will inherit your company pension and retirement accounts after your remarriage?
2. have you considered whether you should change your pension payout method when you remarry?
3. will your new extended family be adequately covered under your will?
4. does your will specify whether the estate tax should be apportioned against each bequest or paid from your residuary estate?
5. can you minimize taxes by allocating value-discounted estate assets to various beneficiaries?
6. should you leave discounted assets to your children to avoid a drastic distortion in their net bequests?

you can follow up this discussion with a call, article, blog or fact sheet.

clients should also be told how this is an involved area – particularly where there are children from a first marriage and with inheritances left in “trust” for the second spouse. this can lend itself to some very interesting cash flow and estate tax consequences. for instance,

• what happens when the second wife is the same age as the children from the first marriage, and the funds are left in a qualified terminable interest property (qtip) trust? are the children effectively disinherited?
• if the funds are invested in a manner to have low dividends and high eventual capital appreciation, what happens if the remaining income-invested funds are providing a relatively low yield based on the total value of the portfolio?

finalizing the engagement

we use the same pattern of an initial consultation that we use for most of our other services. we charge a flat fee for the initial consultation. about half the time, all issues are resolved in the initial consultation.

for the other half, we are usually able to quote a fixed fee. we always request an initial retainer – approximately 40 percent and two additional equal monthly payments. many times this leads to complicated estate planning, expanding the engagement.

posted on june 7, 2023