Just Got Married? Here’s the Estate Planning Checklist

Congratulations — you just got married. Between the thank-you notes and merging your lives, estate planning is probably the last thing on your mind. But marriage changed your legal landscape more than almost anything else you’ll ever do, and most of those changes happened automatically without anyone telling you.

Some of them are great. Some of them might not be what you want at all. Here’s what you need to know and what to do about it.

What marriage changes automatically

Your spouse becomes your default heir

In Kentucky, if you die without a will, your surviving spouse receives the first $15,000 of personal property automatically, then half of remaining personal property and a life estate in one-third of real property. The rest passes to your children, parents, or siblings depending on who survives you. In Indiana, if you have no children and no living parents, your spouse gets everything — but if your parents are still alive, they inherit one-quarter and your spouse gets three-quarters. Ohio has its own version of these rules.

These defaults might be fine for you. But if you have children from a previous relationship, own property you want to keep in your family, or simply want to make your own decisions about who gets what — you need a will. The state’s plan is a one-size-fits-all statute. It doesn’t know your family.

Your old beneficiary designations might be wrong

Your life insurance, 401(k), IRA, and bank accounts all have beneficiary designations. These override your will. If your life insurance still names your college roommate, your ex, or your parents — that’s who gets the money when you die. Marriage doesn’t automatically change beneficiary designations in most cases. You have to update them yourself.

This is one of the most common and most expensive estate planning mistakes. I’ve seen families discover after a death that a six-figure life insurance policy is still payable to an ex-spouse because nobody thought to update the form. It’s a quick fix, but only if you actually do it.

Medical decision-making shifts

Before marriage, if you were incapacitated, your parents were likely your default medical decision-makers (depending on your state’s rules). After marriage, your spouse typically takes priority. That might be exactly what you want. But what if you’re newly married and your spouse doesn’t know your medical wishes yet? What if you want your parent involved in decisions alongside your spouse? A medical power of attorney and living will let you decide this for yourself instead of leaving it to default rules.

The newlywed estate planning checklist

You don’t need to do everything at once. But in the first year of marriage, these are the things that actually matter:

1. Update your beneficiary designations

This is the single highest-impact thing you can do, and it doesn’t require an attorney. Log in to every account that has a beneficiary — life insurance (both work and personal policies), retirement accounts (401k, IRA, Roth IRA), bank accounts with POD (payable on death) designations, and brokerage accounts with TOD (transfer on death) designations. Update them to reflect your married life. This takes an afternoon, and it matters more than almost anything else on this list.

2. Get wills in place (for both of you)

Even a simple will is transformative. It lets you name who gets what, who manages your estate, and — if you have or plan to have children — who raises them. If you die without a will, the state decides all of this for you.

For most newlyweds without children and with modest assets, a will-based plan is a great starting point. If you own a home or have significant assets, a trust-based plan is worth considering from the start to help your spouse avoid probate.

3. Sign powers of attorney (for both of you)

A durable power of attorney lets your spouse manage your financial affairs if you can’t — paying bills, dealing with insurance, handling your accounts. Without one, your spouse would need to petition a court for guardianship just to access your bank account if you’re in a coma. That process takes weeks and costs thousands.

4. Sign medical directives (for both of you)

A living will tells doctors what you want if you can’t speak for yourself. A medical power of attorney names who makes those decisions. Marriage doesn’t automatically give your spouse the authority to make all medical decisions in every scenario — and even when it does, having a clear document makes everything faster and less traumatic in a crisis.

5. Talk about life insurance

If your spouse depends on your income, you need life insurance. If you depend on theirs, they need it too. Many employers offer a basic policy (often 1x or 2x salary), but that’s rarely enough to replace a lifetime of income, cover a mortgage, or fund your children’s education. This isn’t something I sell — but it’s something I always flag in consultations because it matters.

What about prenups and postnups?

Cooper Law does not draft prenuptial or postnuptial agreements — that’s family law, not estate planning. But I work with clients who have them, and I need to know about them when building your estate plan. If you signed a prenup, bring it to your consultation. Your estate plan needs to be consistent with it, or you could have conflicting legal documents that create problems down the road.

The tax picture changes too

Marriage affects your taxes in ways that intersect with estate planning. The most relevant for most newlyweds: the unlimited marital deduction means you can leave any amount of assets to your spouse without estate tax (assuming they’re a U.S. citizen). That’s good news. But it doesn’t mean taxes disappear — it means they’re deferred until the surviving spouse dies. For higher-net-worth couples, this is where coordinated trust planning with a tax lens matters. This is also where having an attorney who holds a CPA and CFP® alongside a JD makes a real difference — I can see the tax implications of your estate structure at the same time I’m building it.

When to start

The honest answer is: now. Not because something bad is going to happen, but because the peace of mind of knowing you’re covered is worth more than the few weeks it takes to get it done.

A will-based plan at Cooper Law takes 3–4 weeks. A trust-based plan takes 4–6 weeks. Updating beneficiary designations takes an afternoon. You’ll spend more time picking a wedding photographer than you’ll spend on the estate plan that protects your marriage.

You didn’t get married for you. You did it for each other. Estate planning is the same idea — you’re doing it for the person sleeping next to you.

Allison Cooper, JD, CPA, CFP®

Allison Cooper is the founder of Cooper Law, LLC, an estate planning firm based in Louisville, Kentucky. She holds a JD, CPA, and CFP® and is licensed to practice law in Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio.