Financial counseling for GLBT and non-traditional partners

Support for unmarried partners

Marriage comes with financial benefits -- a fact that unmarried partners know all too well. While some states now offer rights for unmarried couples, others are taking them away. There are over 1,100 federal rights and at least 300 state protections that aren’t available to Wisconsin families headed by unmarried partners.

Christine Stevick, CPA, was the first financial counselor in Madison, WI, to affiliate herself with PridePlanners™, a national association of financial professionals that serve the changing, challenging, and unique needs of the gay and lesbian community and non-traditional couples and families.

Marital status matters

Even if your state respects your status, it’s possible that the federal government won’t. Incorrectly designating your status as “single” or “married” on your tax forms may result in overpayment of taxes, underpayment of taxes, penalties, and interest payments.

Marital status is a factor in hundreds of federal statutes that affect a family’s financial well-being, from Social Security and taxation to laws about benefits arising from employment and military service. This is an evolving area of the law in which there is no certainty.

Financial counseling that focuses solely on dollars and cents without acknowledging these issues is counseling that falls short of helping such families find security and achieve their goals.

For example:

  • Estate taxes — How can one partner pass assets to his/her surviving partner so that he/she doesn’t end up paying estate taxes twice?
  • Property ownership — How should partners hold property together so the surviving partner can inherit it without going through probate?
  • Insurance — Do partners need more/different life insurance policies than married couples do?
  • Tax deductions — How should partners pay expenses and split up deductions for mortgage interest and other expenses on their tax returns?
  • Social Security and pensions — How can couples make up for lost benefits?
  • IRAs and 401(k)s — How should beneficiaries be listed?
  • Estate planning — How should non-married couples structure retirement and estate planning?
  • Record-keeping — Which records should be kept jointly, and which ones separately?
  • Legal help — When should partners call on an attorney for help?
  • Long term care — How should couples think about elder care and insurance?

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Protect your family

The amount of work it takes just to bring non-traditional families up to parity with traditional families in terms of tax issues and estate planning can be overwhelming for many people. Financial planning for non-traditional families requires creative application of a broad range of financial strategies and an understanding of how to apply these techniques.

In addition to all of the burdens placed on them by the lack of protection afforded by the state and federal government, non-traditional families wrestle with the same issues traditional families do – household budgeting, saving for college, managing debt, arguments about money – and such everyday issues deserve caring attention with an eye on the larger context.

Chris Stevick is a smart, caring, credentialed financial professional who can help non-traditional families navigate these rocky waters.

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