The unique estate planning challenges of women

On Behalf of | Mar 21, 2018 | Estate Planning

Women and men are equal under the law, but there are some unavoidable characteristics that make them very different from one another. From an estate planning perspective, the most important difference is the fact that women tend to live almost five years longer than men. As such, women often die after their husbands have passed.

There is also the fact that women may have less savings and lower retirement incomes than men due to the male-female pay gap that lawmakers and American society as a whole are currently trying to overcome. Throughout history, women have suffered with lower pay and it continues to this day. A well-organized estate plan will recognize these differences when it comes to planning how women will transfer these assets to heirs.

Estate planning lawyers throughout California will no doubt agree that they work with a lot of female surviving spouses, and that it’s usually women who come to them after the death of a spouse in order to reorganize their estate plans. Female estate planning clients tend to recognize how important estate planning is. Especially if they have survived a spouse without having any kind of estate planning set up, they tend to recognize from first-hand experience the value of having things set up in advance before someone passes — as it makes things so much easier on surviving family members.

A sound estate plan saves time and money. It also creates legal protections for surviving spouses and family members, while ensuring that the estate planner’s goals for his or her legacy and wealth distribution are closely adhered to.

Source: Forbes, “It’s Different For Women In Estate Planning,” Larry Light, accessed March 21, 2018