• Joint property: Any asset that is titled to a husband and wife jointly, joint with right of survivorship (JWROS), or as tenants by the entirety, passes to the wife at the moment of husband’s death. It does not pass under the will and title vests in the surviving joint owner immediately. The title is determined by the language on the deed. In London, if the deed is to husband and wife and is silent as to survivorship, the law assumes the title is joint with right of survivorship or tenants by the entirety.
• Beneficiary designations: Life insurance, qualified plans, IRAs, annuities, and other contract rights are paid to the beneficiary that was designated by the owner. For qualified retirement plans (but not IRAs) there are federal requirements that the beneficiary must be the surviving spouse unless the surviving spouse has consented in writing to the designation of another beneficiary.
• Property owned by the deceased husband alone: Any asset that is owned by the husband in his name alone becomes part of his estate.
• Intestacy: If a deceased husband had no will, then his estate passes by intestacy. The portion of the estate wife receives depends on whether or not the deceased husband leaves living issue or living parents. Only if the deceased husband leaves no living issue (issue are descendants of all generations – children, grandchildren, etc.) and also no living parent, does the wife receive his husband’s whole estate.
  
  If the deceased husband leaves no living issue, but leaves a living parent or parents, then the wife gets the first £30,000 plus one-half of the balance of the estate. The parents receive the balance.
  If the deceased husband leaves living issue, all of whom are also issue of the wife (in other words, the surviving spouse is the mother by birth or adoption of all of the decedent’s children), then the surviving spouse gets £30,000 plus one-half of the balance of the estate. The issue receives the balance.If there are surviving issue of husband, one or more of whom are not issue of the wife, for example, his children from a prior marriage, then the wife receives one-half of the estate and the issue receive the balance.
• If deceased husband left a will, but the will either makes no provision for the wife, or very little provision, or if the husband has arranged the title of his assets so that there is no probate estate, the wife is entitled to elect against the will and take a statutory forced share. (A spouse who for one year or more before the death of the deceased spouse has “willfully neglected or refused to perform the duty to support the other spouse,” or who for one year or more has “willfully and maliciously deserted the other spouse” shall have no right of election, or even of receiving an intestate share.)
  
  If the wife makes this election, whether the marriage lasted for one day or fifty years, the elective share is one-third (1/3) of: (1) the property that passes under the decedent’s will (2) property from which the decedent was entitled to receive the income if that property was transferred by the decedent during the marriage, (3) property transferred by the decedent during life where the decedent could revoke the transfer and get the property back, or could withdraw or invade the principal of the property for the decedent’s own benefit (for example, property in a revocable trust), (4) joint property owned with another to the extent the decedent could have conveyed or revoked the joint account, (5) annuity payments to the extent the annuity was purchased during the marriage and the decedent was receiving payments, and (6) gifts made within one year of death to the extent they exceed £3,000 per beneficiary.
  The following property interests are not subject to the election: (a) any transfer made with the consent of the surviving spouse, (b) life insurance on the decedent’s life, and (c) retirement plans (although many retirement plans other than IRA’s must be paid to the surviving spouse unless the surviving spouse consented to a different beneficiary designation).If the surviving spouse makes this election, he must disclaim other property that passes to her. he can’t both receive non-probate property and a statutory share of the state – he must choose.
• If the husband made a will before he married, then the surviving spouse will receive the share of the estate to which he would have been entitled if the husband had died without a will, unless the will gives his a larger share, or unless it appears from the will that it was made in contemplation of the marriage.Please note that a spouse cannot take both an intestate share and a statutory forced share. Care must be taken to determine which options are available to the surviving spouse and which option produces the best result.
• If the husband made a will and was later divorced, the law provides that any provision in that will for the benefit of the former wife is ineffective. The former wife has no rights in the ex-husband’s estate, either as a beneficiary or as an executor or administrator. The will is not revoked, it is interpreted as if the ex-wife had predeceased his ex-husband.

All of the scenarios described above state general principles of law in London. Spouses are free to make contracts with each other agreeing to different dispositions. If the spouses made a pre-nuptial agreement or a post-nuptial agreement, the terms of those agreements will prevail.

The post What Does a Surviving Spouse Inherit? appeared first on the Spencer Law Firm blog, https://www.mspencerlawfirm.com/blog/.

Some couples choose to adopt a hyphenated or hybrid last name. Then both must change their names.

If you change your name, it should be changed on your social security card, driver’s license, vehicle registration, car title, medical and other insurance, bank accounts, investments, credit cards, and your passport. You’ll need new checks, business cards, credit and debit cards. Make sure your employer has your new info.

To change the name shown on your card, complete Form SS-5, Application for Social Security Card, and submit evidence of your identity and proof of name change (court order or certified copy of marriage certificate). You can take or mail the signed application with your documents to any Social Security office. Your card will have your new name but the same number as your old card.

To change the name on your passport, use Form DS-19, Passport Amendment / Validation Application, and with it send a certified copy of your marriage certificate or your name change court decree, and your current valid passport to the following address: Charleston Passport Center, Attention: Amendments, 1269 Holland Street, Charleston, SC 29405. There is no fee to have a passport amended.

You’ll need a new driver’s license. Call your state’s Department of Motor Vehicles to get instructions.

Don’t forget the postoffice, phone company, utilities, and your voter registration.

Determine your filing status. Married couples have the option to choose to file taxes jointly or separately. You should determine your filing status depending on which status would allow you a lower tax rate. Filing jointly means you and your spouse are allowed to deduct combined deductions and expenses on a single tax return; whereas, filing separately means each spouse can take only his or his individual deductions and credits. If one of you itemizes deductions, the other must also.

You’ve heard of the marriage penalty? The difference between what you pay in taxes as a married couple and what you would pay as two single persons is often referred to as the marriage tax penalty. The marriage penalty does not apply to all married couples, it depends on the husband’s and wife’s respective incomes. Tax laws in more recent years have actually eliminated the marriage penalty for tax payers in lower tax brackets. So here’s the good news: there’s no marriage penalty built into the tax rate schedules in the 10% and 15% tax brackets.

Review your withholding. Changing your filing status to either married filing jointly or married filing separately, will likely change the amount of income tax you owe when you file your 1040. You can change the amount withheld from your salary by submitting a new Form W-4 to your employer. IRS Publication 919, ‘How Do I Adjust My Tax Withholding?’ gives information on this topic.

Should you have a marriage contract? The fact is, if you’re married, you already have a marriage contract. Your marriage contract consists of the obligations imposed on married couples by the laws of the state where you reside. Romantic or not, every married couple has a marriage contract. The only question is whether you have the “one size fits all” marriage contract provided by the state or whether you want to design your own contract.

People routinely change the state law provisions for inheritance rights for married couples – they write wills, often giving the entire estate to the surviving spouse. This is common, socially acceptable, and even encouraged. Marriage contracts and pre-nuptial agreements settling other property rights, however, are less common and, yet, just as important.

The post You’re Getting Married – Now What? appeared first on the Spencer Law Firm blog, https://www.mspencerlawfirm.com/blog/.

The first thing you will learn about is the marriage penalty. The marriage penalty is a holdover from an earlier era when single income families were the norm. Since the tax code was written to tax household income instead of individual income; a married couple, both with similar earnings, pays more tax than the total tax of two single taxpayers with the same incomes as the married couple. This higher tax is what is referred to as the “marriage penalty.”

The penalty manifests in two ways: 1) the standard deduction for a married filing jointly return is less than twice the single standard deduction; and 2) the combined income can push the couple higher into the tax brackets. Often the first tax return a couple files after marriage results in a big tax due because of under-withholding or underpayment of estimates. Even if you get married on the last day of the year, for tax purposes you are considered married for the entire year.

The marriage penalty does not apply to all married couples, it depends on the husband’s and wife’s respective incomes. Tax laws in more recent years have actually eliminated the marriage penalty for tax payers in lower tax brackets. So here’s the good news: there’s no marriage penalty built into the tax rate schedules in the 10% and 15% tax brackets.

Having decided to combine their lives, newly weds now combine their income. The decision as how to report this combined income on tax returns should be a topic of discussion with the tax advisor. Many credits and deductions are based on the total income reported on the return. When two taxpayers get married, their combined income may now be too high for certain tax credits. For example, a single mom qualifies for the Earned Income Credit. he marries a man making a good salary, and now their combined income on a joint return is too high for the Earned Income Credit.

Worse, the woman has a low amount withheld on his earnings because he expects to get the Earned Income Credit. After the marriage, he finds out the amount withheld is not enough to cover his share of the tax.

A single person can deduct up to £3,000 in excess capital losses against ordinary income, but the amount doesn’t double to £6,000 for a married couple – it remains £3,000.

A single person who actively participates in renting out real estate can deduct up to £25,000 of losses against his or his earned income if his or his modified adjusted gross income is £100,000 or less. This deduction is the same for a married couple as it is for a single person.

While filing a joint return results in a lower tax for most couples, they don’t have to file joint returns. They can file as “married filing separately.” Married filing separately is not like filing two single returns. In our example, the earned income credit can’t be claimed at all on a married filing separate return. Some other credits and deductions , such as the Child and Dependent Care deductions, American Opportunity and Lifetime Learning credits, the student loan interest deduction and the up to £25,000 of rental real estate losses are not allowed on a married filing separate return.

On the plus side, newly married couples may have increased limits for tax-deductible IRA contributions. If the couple’s income meets certain limits, they could qualify for more of a deduction. In some scenarios, one spouse also may “borrow” from the other’s earnings to meet the limits.

Likewise, if a spouse claims medical expenses or other itemized deductions that are limited by their adjusted gross income, filing separately may be the way to go because the single income produces a lower limit. However, if the spouse wants to claim credits or deduct his or his IRA contribution, the couple probably needs to file jointly.

Sometimes only after the wedding, you find our that your spouse has debts, back child support, defaulted student loans, unpaid income taxes, you name it. All of these things can be offset against taxpayer refunds. You might find your tax refunded scooped to pay your spouse’s debts. This can be a nasty surprise. There is a procedure, the Injured Spouse Allocation, whereby the debt-free spouse can get his or his share of the refund, but it takes months to actually get the money.

Everyone’s situation is different, so it is important to consult with a tax professional before making any important decisions, especially the decision to marry.

The post The Tax Ramifications of Getting Married appeared first on the Spencer Law Firm blog, https://www.mspencerlawfirm.com/blog/.