Marriage

Getting married joins more than two people, it can tie together your finances, your benefits, your decisions, and what happens if one of you can’t act for the other. Amid the planning and the celebrating, it’s the perfect moment to make sure the person you’ve chosen is the person the paperwork chooses too. And like every milestone, it’s not just the wedding, it’s all the stuff attached to it. And remember, every path is unique; these are suggestions, not advice.

Make your spouse your person

• Marriage doesn’t automatically update who can speak or decide for you, you do that.
• Update or create a Will so your wishes reflect your marriage.
• Name your spouse in a Health Care Proxy so they can make medical decisions for you, Gentreo’s includes HIPAA authorization and an advance directive.
• Set up a Power of Attorney so your spouse can handle your financial matters if you can’t, paying bills, managing accounts, and the like.
• A Living Trust can help your assets pass smoothly to each other, worth considering as you combine your lives.

Decide how you’ll handle money together

• There’s no single right answer, just the one that fits the two of you.
• Review your student loan repayment options as some income-driven plans and forgiveness programs are affected by filing status after marriage. Be sure to research your specific state to learn how community property laws affect how assets and debts acquired during marriage are owned.
• Decide on an approach to accounts: fully joint, a “yours, mine, and ours” mix, or kept separate.
• Build a shared emergency cushion you both can reach.
• Talk through a plan for any debt either of you brings in.

Update the practical stuff

• Health care planning – deciding between health care plans if you have that option
• Update beneficiaries on retirement accounts and life insurance, marriage doesn’t change these for you.
• If you’re changing your name, notify Social Security first, then update your license and accounts.
• Marriage is a qualifying life event, you have a limited window to adjust workplace health coverage outside open enrollment.
• Compare and combine home, auto, and life coverage now that you’re a household.

Protect what you’re building together

• Review whether your life insurance reflects two people relying on one income or two.
• Store your marriage certificate, combined policies, and key documents, plus shared access to passwords and accounts, in your Gentreo Digital Vault.
• If you’re bringing significant assets into the marriage, an agreement that spells things out is worth a conversation.

Bringing pets into the marriage? They’re family too, see Getting a New Pet for protecting them and naming who cares for them.

You don’t have to sort all of this before the honeymoon. Make your spouse your person first, and Gentreo helps with the rest as you settle in.

More celebrating. Less paperwork.

Gentreo is not a law firm or a substitute for a law firm or attorney or an attorney’s advice. Gentreo provides self-help services at your specific direction.