{"id":157,"date":"2018-07-10T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-07-10T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/norrismclaughlin.com\/njbr\/2018\/07\/10\/beneficiary-rights-of-separated-spouses\/"},"modified":"2018-07-10T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-07-10T00:00:00","slug":"beneficiary-rights-of-separated-spouses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/norrismclaughlin.com\/njbr\/beneficiary-rights\/beneficiary-rights-of-separated-spouses\/","title":{"rendered":"Beneficiary Rights of Separated Spouses"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The tragic deaths of celebrities Anthony Bourdain and Kate Spade brought attention to the critical importance of recognizing and treating depression.\u00a0 In the case of Kate Spade, it also highlights the beneficiary rights of separated spouses.\u00a0 Ms. Spade\u2019s husband revealed that he and his wife had been separated for almost a year prior to her death.\u00a0 Beneficiary rights of separated spouses in New Jersey have been addressed on several occasions in this blog; let\u2019s review them.<\/p>\n<p><strong><u>Elective Share<\/u><\/strong>. What if, due to the separation, Ms. Spade sought to exclude her husband from the beneficial provisions of her Will?\u00a0 As discussed <a href=\"https:\/\/norrismclaughlin.com\/njbr\/2285\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a>,\u00a0 New Jersey spouses have the statutory right, unless validly waived in writing, to take up to one-third of the deceased spouse\u2019s \u201cAugmented Estate\u201d regardless of the provisions of the deceased spouse\u2019s Will.\u00a0 See the prior post for details on how the Augmented Estate is calculated and the elective share, if any, is ultimately determined, but one requirement is particularly relevant to our example.\u00a0 A prerequisite to claiming the elective share is that the surviving spouse and the deceased spouse must NOT have been living separate and apart at the time of death or ceased to cohabit as man and wife under circumstances that gave one spouse a cause of action for divorce.\u00a0 \u00a0Therefore, under New Jersey law, the elective share may not have been available to Mr. Spade.<\/p>\n<p><strong><u>Omitted Spouse<\/u><\/strong>.\u00a0 What if Ms. Spade executed a Will before she and husband were married, but never updated it?\u00a0 As discussed <a href=\"https:\/\/norrismclaughlin.com\/njbr\/2285\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a>, he could claim status as an \u201comitted spouse\u201d which would entitle him to an intestate share of the estate (which could be the entire estate depending on the circumstances).<\/p>\n<p><strong><u>Funeral Arrangements<\/u><\/strong>.\u00a0 What about funeral arrangements?\u00a0\u00a0 Would Mr. Spade have the authority to deal with that unpleasant, but necessary, task? As discussed <a href=\"https:\/\/norrismclaughlin.com\/njbr\/2294\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a>, absent an express designation in the Will, a spouse, irrespective of any separation, has the right to control funeral arrangements and disposition of remains for a deceased spouse.<\/p>\n<p><strong><u>Retirement Plans<\/u><\/strong>.\u00a0 Finally, while not directly addressed in previous posts, perhaps one of the most important spousal rights is the right (granted by the Retirement Equity Act of 1984), absent an express written waiver, to inherit a deceased spouse\u2019s pension or 401(k) (note that this rule does not apply to IRAs).<\/p>\n<p>The bottom line is that while the elective share may not be available to spouses who separate, they should not assume that they have automatically given up all beneficiary rights if their spouse passes away. The above also highlights the need for careful planning in the event of what may be an extended separation, possibly leading to divorce, to ensure that testamentary desires are fully implemented.<\/p>\n<p>If you have any questions about this post or any other matters, please contact me at\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:jjcostellojr@nmmlaw.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">jjcostellojr@nmmlaw.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The tragic deaths of celebrities Anthony Bourdain and Kate Spade brought attention to the critical importance of recognizing and treating depression.\u00a0 In the case of Kate Spade, it also highlights the beneficiary rights of separated spouses.\u00a0 Ms. Spade\u2019s husband revealed that he and his wife had been separated for almost a year prior to her [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":158,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,31],"tags":[60,114,28,45,15,115,62,116,21,117,86,118,119,6],"coauthors":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.1 (Yoast SEO v22.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Beneficiary Rights of Separated Spouses - Guardians of Your Will<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/norrismclaughlin.com\/njbr\/beneficiary-rights\/beneficiary-rights-of-separated-spouses\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Beneficiary Rights of Separated Spouses\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The tragic deaths of celebrities Anthony Bourdain and Kate Spade brought attention to the critical importance of recognizing and treating depression.\u00a0 In the case of Kate Spade, it also highlights the beneficiary rights of separated spouses.\u00a0 Ms. Spade\u2019s husband revealed that he and his wife had been separated for almost a year prior to her [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/norrismclaughlin.com\/njbr\/beneficiary-rights\/beneficiary-rights-of-separated-spouses\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Guardians of Your Will\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-07-10T00:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/norrismclaughlin.com\/njbr\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2022\/12\/divorced-couple-broken-heart.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"James J. 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