A correction to the previous video “If You’re Married & Over 65, Your Wills Are Probably Wrong.” Wes Coulson explains the difference between leaving everything to each other and for each other.
Hi, I’m Wes Coulson and this is your Elder Law Minute. I kind of messed up last week, so I’m going to ask you to do what I meant and not what I said. We talked about how married couples are consistently getting it wrong in their wills and living trusts. And what I said was that you should leave everything to each other rather than for each other. What I meant to say is that your wills and living trusts should be structured, and it takes special legal language, to leave everything for each other and not to each other. Why is that so important? Well, because it is the way of protecting what each of you leave for the other from having to be spent down if the one of you who lives longer winds up needing nursing home care and would have to apply for Medicaid. So it’s a great planning idea as long as you do it the way I meant, which is to leave everything for each other and not to each other. Thanks!
