Estate Planning Checklist for Couples Who Both Work

Compare Income and Benefits | List Accounts From Both Jobs | Check Beneficiaries | Review Life Insurance | Plan for Disability | Coordinate Your Assets | Organize Financial Information | Review Your Plan Together

When both spouses work, a family can have financial accounts and benefits spread across two employers, several banks, retirement plans, and insurance companies. Keeping track of everything can get difficult as your careers and family grow.

Estate planning can help bring these pieces together. A coordinated plan helps both spouses understand what they own, who will receive certain assets, and who can step in if one person cannot handle financial decisions.

Key Takeaways

• Two jobs can mean twice as many financial pieces to track. Retirement accounts, workplace benefits, insurance, and beneficiary forms from both spouses should work with the same estate plan.
• Each spouse should understand the family’s financial picture. Important accounts, documents, contacts, and instructions should not exist only in one spouse’s head.
• Review your plan after a job or benefit change. A new employer, retirement account, insurance policy, or major income change can be a good reason to review your estate plan.

Compare Income and Benefits From Both Jobs

Start by looking at what each spouse receives through work. One spouse may have a 401(k), employer-provided life insurance, health insurance, disability coverage, or other workplace benefits. The other spouse may have a completely different set of accounts and benefits.

Write down what each person has and where it is held. Include retirement accounts, life insurance policies, savings and investment accounts, and other major financial assets. This gives you a clearer picture of what your family owns and what would happen to those assets if one spouse died.

Estate planning becomes easier when you know what you are actually planning for. If you are starting from scratch, our guide to 5 estate planning documents every young family needs explains the documents that may form the foundation of your plan.

List Accounts From Both Jobs

Changing jobs can leave financial accounts scattered across several places. You may have a 401(k) from your current employer and another retirement account from a job you left years ago. Your spouse may have their own retirement accounts, employer life insurance, and other benefits.

Make a list of these accounts together. The goal is to make sure both spouse know what exists. Keep basic information about each account, including the financial company or employer connected to it. You should also know where important documents can be found.

Imagine that your spouse pays the mortgage, manages investments, handles insurance, and knows all the financial contacts. If that person suddenly could not handle those responsibilities, would you know where to start?

Check Beneficiaries on Retirement Accounts

Retirement accounts are an important part of estate planning for working couples. Each spouse may have a 401(k), IRA, or other retirement account with its own beneficiary designation. Those beneficiary forms can affect who receives the account after the owner’s death.

Do not assume your will automatically controls these accounts. Review the beneficiary designations for both spouses. Make sure the primary beneficiaries still reflect your wishes and check whether you have named backup beneficiaries. This is especially important after marriage, divorce, the birth of a child, or a job change.

If you have several retirement accounts or are unsure how your beneficiaries fit with your will or trust, a Milwaukee estate planning attorney can help you identify questions that should be addressed.

Review Life Insurance From Both Employers

Many working couples receive some life insurance through their employers. That coverage can be valuable, but families should understand how much coverage each spouse actually has. Start by checking the amount of employer-provided life insurance available to each person.  Then look at any separate policies you own outside of work.

Ask whether the total coverage still makes sense for your family today. Your financial responsibilities may have changed since you first selected the coverage.  Also check the beneficiary designation on each policy. Parents should be especially careful about naming minor children directly without understanding how the money would be handled.

Life insurance should work with your estate plan rather than sit outside of it. If you are unsure which documents should be part of your plan, our guide on what estate planning documents you need provides a useful starting point.

Plan for Disability, Not Just Death

Working couples often focus on what would happen if one spouse died. But what if one spouse were alive and unable to work or manage financial matters?  This is where estate planning and financial planning can work together. A Durable Power of Attorney can allow a person you choose to handle certain financial matters if you cannot manage them yourself.

Couples should also understand any disability benefits available through their employers and whether they have additional coverage. Your spouse may know what bills need to be paid, but that does not automatically answer every question about legal authority or account access.

Preparing for incapacity can help your family avoid having to figure these things out during an emergency. A good estate plan prepares for life as well as death.

Coordinate Shared and Separate Assets

Married couples often own a mix of shared and separate assets. You may own your home together while maintaining individual retirement accounts. One spouse may have an investment account opened before marriage. The other may have stock through an employer.

How an asset is owned can affect what happens to it later. This is why estate planning should include more than simply writing a will.

Your attorney may need to consider account ownership, beneficiary designations, trusts, and other estate planning documents to understand how everything fits together. You do not necessarily need to change how every account is owned.

Instead, the goal is to understand what you have and make sure the different pieces support the same plan. This becomes even more important as a family’s finances grow.

Organize Important Financial Information

Legal documents are important, but organization can make a major difference for your family too. Both spouses should know where important estate planning and financial information can be found.

You do not need to keep every password written on a piece of paper next to your computer. You do need a safe system that allows the right person to find important information if necessary. Think about your mortgage, insurance policies, retirement accounts, bank accounts, investment accounts, tax records, and contact information for important professionals.

Also make sure someone you trust knows where your original estate planning documents are stored. This can save your family from searching through drawers, email accounts, and old paperwork during an already stressful time.

Review Your Estate Plan When Either Spouse Changes Jobs

A job change is a great time to review your estate plan. You may leave behind a retirement account, lose an employer life insurance policy, receive new workplace benefits, or see a major change in your income. Use job changes as a reminder to check beneficiary designations, insurance coverage, retirement accounts, and important estate planning documents.

You should also review your plan after other major life events, including the birth of a child, buying a home, divorce, remarriage, or a major change in your finances. Our guide on how often you should review your estate plan explains other situations that may be a good reason to take another look.

At Margerie Law in Wauwatosa, we help working couples bring these financial pieces together into one clear estate plan. If you need a Wauwatosa estate planning attorney, or estate planning help in Milwaukee, Brookfield, Elm Grove, or nearby communities, our team can help you review your accounts, beneficiaries, documents, and family goals. Don’t wait until it’s too late, reach out of our trusted team today.