Getting remarried can be wonderful, but it’s not without risks. There are plenty of reasons why you might be hesitant to get remarried, even if you’ve found someone you want to spend the rest of your life with.
While these potential problems can be stressful, they can also be mitigated with a little forethought. Below, we’ve collected some of the most common issues that cause people to delay remarrying and explain how you can prevent them from causing problems in your new relationship.
Possible Risks of Getting Remarried in Oregon
Getting married always carries a certain amount of risk because of how big a commitment it is. However, remarrying is more likely to involve certain issues because of when it occurs in life.
People getting married for a second or subsequent time are usually older than those on their first marriages. They’ve often already gone through one divorce and are typically more established in life. This leads to issues such as:
More Property to Address
The older you are, the more time you’ve had to work and accrue assets like real estate, vehicles, retirement accounts, and more. This extra property helps make you more secure but also leads to complications when preparing for a new marriage.
All assets you bring into your marriage are considered separate property, but things can get murky if you combine your finances. If you’re not careful, you may accidentally commingle assets, making a potential divorce significantly harder to untangle.
More Settled Lifestyles to Change
If you’ve been single for a while, you have likely settled into a consistent routine. You have your own home, job, and plans for the future. You’ve probably grown used to spending your money the way you like. Your prospective spouse likely does as well.
If you get remarried, both of you will need to adjust all of these expectations, habits, and plans. While making your partner an official part of your life has financial and legal benefits, these may not always outweigh the changes you must make. It’s important to talk to your partner about how you’ll handle these adjustments before you tie the knot.
Children and Families to Blend
You or your partner may already have children. If you choose to get married, you’ll need to blend your families. Depending on your circumstances, this may be as simple as moving into a shared home together. However, you may also choose to adopt your new spouse’s children or vice versa. You may also need to prepare for parenting around shared custody and visitation orders.
There are as many paths to blending families as there are families to blend. There’s no single solution that works for everyone. If you want to build a strong family and reduce conflict, you and your partner must plan how to handle parenting, custody, visitation, and adoption in advance.
Estates and Inheritances to Consider
As you’re considering starting a new life together, it may seem morbid to consider end-of-life concerns. However, estates and inheritances are particularly important matters for older couples. If you have children from another relationship or an existing estate plan, you must consider how to protect them after getting remarried.
You and your potential new spouse should discuss how you want to handle these concerns before committing to each other. Understanding the other person’s preferences and expectations after they pass is invaluable for deciding whether to commit to them for the rest of your life.
Protecting Yourself Before Your Next Marriage
The matters listed above only put you at risk if you don’t plan how to address them. If you and your partner sit down and discuss these issues beforehand, they are unlikely to cause problems. Here’s how you can minimize the biggest financial and legal issues that may occur in your marriage:
- Honestly discuss your finances. Couples who get married young may not think to discuss their financial situations because they simply don’t have much to discuss. If you’re getting remarried, though, there’s plenty to talk about. Talk to each other about your incomes, investments, debts, and anything else that affects your financial future.
- Compare spending and saving habits. One of the biggest sources of conflict in many marriages comes from different spending habits. Talk about whether you prefer to spend more on a daily basis or save up for the future so you can set your expectations.
- Create retirement plans. Hopefully, you’ve both started planning for how you’ll fund your retirements, but those plans might not align. Talk about when you want to retire, what lifestyle you want to maintain, and how you’ll achieve your goals.
- Draft a prenuptial agreement. Once you’ve discussed your finances and set goals and plans for the future, you can use a prenuptial agreement to finalize them. This contract can help you keep assets separate, protect your kids, and guard your future on the off chance you choose to divorce.
By taking the time to have these conversations and set up a legal contract, you can keep yourself, your family, and your partner safe from whatever the future may bring.
Prepare for Your New Marriage With Expert Legal Help
If you’ve already ended one marriage, hesitating about starting a new one is normal. Still, you’re older and wiser than you used to be. You’re better prepared than ever before to handle the conversations and preparation necessary to make your next marriage successful. You don’t have to do the work alone, either. You can work with the expert prenuptial agreement lawyers at Regele Law, LLC, to determine the best ways to prepare yourself and your family for a new marriage. Learn more about how we can help you set your relationship up for success by scheduling your consultation with our Salem, Oregon, family law firm today.
