Valentine’s Day is the season of cards, flowers, roses, and chocolate. This romantic holiday has been around for centuries, ever since 496 A.D. Back then, the Romans hosted the holiday, which they called Lupercalia. Lupercalia was celebrated as the beginning of springtime, but, over the years, it has been changed both in name and in purpose. 

Valentine’s Day is all about showing love. While cards and chocolate are nice gifts, they are somewhat fleeting. If you want a gift that will last, consider how you can use estate planning to achieve that goal. 

Your Spouse (Or Spouse-to-Be)

Your Estate 

If you are married, about to be married, or are in a civil union, estate planning is important to ensure that your spouse has some protection in the event that you die or fall ill. Even if you and your partner are not married, failure to plan will cause you to have issues with inheritance and end-of-life medical care. 

A typical estate planning tool that can provide for a spouse/long-term partner after your death is a revocable trust. A revocable trust arrangement can take many forms, but the most common is the continual income trust. This legal document is devised by the grantee (you) for the grantor’s (your spouse’s) remaining life. Your estate will pay out a distribution to your spouse after you die for the rest of their life. Other grantors can include your children, grandchildren, or other relatives. 

An example of this is Frances Bean Cobain, the daughter of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain. After her father’s tragic death, Frances Bean Cobain revealed that Cobain left a huge chunk of his estate. She gets over $100,000 per month from his estate to this day.

Medical Care

Another important aspect of this type of planning for spouses/partners is end-of-life medical care. If you make your spouse your power of attorney, that will allow him or her to have a say in your financial and medical decisions when you are unable to make them for yourself. Assumedly, you trust your spouse and find them responsible. Giving the person closest to you control over such important, personal decisions is an important aspect of an estate plan. This works both ways. 

Your Kids

If something were to happen to you and your spouse, who would you want to take care of your children? Part of your estate plan should involve your kids. This includes not only estate distributions, such as in the case of Kurt Cobain’s daughter, but also guardianship. Guardianship refers to the person who will take care of your kids until they reach the age of majority (18).

Discuss these plans with your proposed guardian to make sure they are on board and consider themselves fit to assume the role of guardian, should anything happen. Most common choices include grandparents and aunts and uncles. 

Your Parents/Grandparents 

This one applies to those of us who have aging parents. If your parents or grandparents have not put together an estate plan, it is important that they do so. For example, if you know your elderly relatives have very specific medical wishes (such as a DNR), they should include those in an estate plan. That way, the hospital and end-of-life caregivers will honor these wishes even when your elderly relatives cannot communicate them.

Other Loved Ones 

Estate plans can include anyone. If you have assets that you want to leave to specific relatives, that is something that estate planning can handle. If you don’t make these arrangements before death, your chosen relatives might not get what you want them to. Instead, your assets will be divvied up and sold off by probate court.

As you can see, there is more than one way to show your loved ones how much you care about them. Estate planning provides a useful way to give a gift that will last long after you’re gone.