October 1, 2023 is the effective date of much of the legislation passed by the Maryland legislature during its legislative session in the Spring. There are a number of new laws that go into effect October 1, 2023 that may affect your estate plan. Our Olney estate planning attorneys explain in more detail below.
Intestacy Reform
When you die without a Will or Trust the State of Maryland has a default estate plan for you. Passing away without an estate plan is known as a dying intestate and the intestacy statute directs how your belongings are distributed. These laws are often surprising to most people. One of the reasons we hear most often as to why someone doesn’t have an estate plan is “I’m married so my spouse will get everything,” which wasn’t always the case under the former intestacy laws. Now it’s more likely that your spouse will receive your whole estate, but not always (especially if you have children or a blended family). The new intestacy distributions are:
- Surviving Spouse with minor children: ½ of the estate goes to the surviving spouse and ½ to children.
- Surviving spouse with adult children in a blended family: $40,000 plus ½ of the remainder to the surviving spouse and surviving children receive the other ½ of the remainder.
- Surviving spouse with adult children: All to the surviving spouse.
- No children but surviving parents: All to the surviving spouse.
Domestic Partnerships
Starting October 1, 2023 any two unmarried adults may become registered domestic partners by filing a Declaration of Domestic Partnership with the local Register of Wills. This will allow the surviving partner to be treated as the surviving spouse under the intestacy laws above and given priority to act as the personal representative. It will also exempt the surviving partner from inheritance tax. A registered domestic partner will not be able to elect against a will and be able to claim the elective share reserved for a surviving spouse. If you are in a domestic partnership contact our office for help navigating this registration process.
Financial Power of Attorney
The final update is to the Maryland Statutory Financial Power of Attorney. The biggest changes are the ability to allow your agent to take actions consistent with Medicaid planning. It also allows you now to determine if your agent can be compensated for their time serving as agent under the power of attorney and to name a successor agent in the event the agent can no longer serve and no successor agent is named in the document. Your current statutory power of attorney is still valid but if you would like to update your power of attorney to take advantage of these changes give us a call.
If you have any questions our Olney estate planning lawyers are here to help. Contact us at (240) 813-8843 or schedule a confidential consultation here.