Just Got Married in New Hampshire? Estate Planning Steps Every Newlywed Needs to Take

Quick Summary

Getting married is one of the most meaningful decisions you will ever make. It is also a legal event that changes how your assets, healthcare decisions, and financial accounts are handled. New Hampshire newlyweds have specific steps to take in the months following their wedding, and most couples are surprised by how much is involved — and how simple it can be to address with the right guidance.

Estate Planning Steps Every Newlywed Needs to Take

Congratulations. If you are reading this shortly after your wedding, you are already thinking about the right things. At Sowerby & Moustakis Law PLLC, we work with newly married couples across Southern New Hampshire and the greater Concord area on the estate planning steps that often get overlooked in the excitement of starting a new life together.

Estate planning for newlyweds is not about anticipating the worst. It is about protecting the person you just committed to, so that if something unexpected happens to you, they are taken care of the way you would want.

Here is what we recommend every New Hampshire newlywed address in the first 90 days after the wedding.

Step 1: Update Your Beneficiary Designations — This One Is Critical

This is the step that surprises most people, and it is the one where we see the most costly mistakes.

Your will does not control what happens to your retirement accounts, life insurance policies, or many financial accounts. These assets pass by beneficiary designation, which means whoever is named on the form at the time of your death receives those assets, regardless of what your will says.

If you had a previous long-term relationship and named an ex-partner as a beneficiary — or if you named a parent or sibling before you were married — that designation still controls. Marriage does not automatically revoke a beneficiary designation in New Hampshire.

Within 90 days of your wedding, review and update beneficiaries on:

• 401(k) and other employer retirement accounts
• IRAs (traditional and Roth)
• Life insurance policies
• Payable-on-death (POD) bank accounts
• Transfer-on-death (TOD) brokerage accounts

This process involves contacting each financial institution or HR department directly and submitting updated forms. It is not glamorous, but it may be the single most impactful thing you do this year from an estate planning standpoint.

Step 2: Review Existing Wills — Both of Yours

Many people write a will before getting married, often when they buy their first home or start a new job. Getting married does not automatically revoke an existing will in New Hampshire.

Under New Hampshire law, a will you made before your marriage remains legally valid after your wedding. Whether it still reflects your wishes is a different question entirely. If your pre-marriage will leaves everything to your parents or siblings, your new spouse may not receive anything from your estate unless you update your plan.

This is also a good time to think through who you want to serve as your executor, the person responsible for administering your estate. Many people name a parent or sibling in that role before they are married. After marriage, spouses often prefer to name each other.

Depending on your circumstances, a will may be sufficient, or a revocable living trust may serve you better. A trust can help your estate avoid probate and trust administration court proceedings, which means your surviving spouse has access to assets more quickly and without public court involvement.

Step 3: Create a Durable Power of Attorney

A durable power of attorney names someone to manage your financial affairs if you become unable to do so yourself. In New Hampshire, durable powers of attorney are governed by RSA 564-E, the Uniform Power of Attorney Act.

Without a durable power of attorney, your spouse cannot automatically step in and manage your financial accounts, pay your bills, handle your business affairs, or make financial decisions on your behalf if you are incapacitated. Even spouses do not have automatic authority to act for each other in all financial matters.

For newlyweds, creating durable powers of attorney for each other is one of the most direct ways to protect your household. It means that if one partner is injured, hospitalized, or otherwise unable to manage their own affairs, the other can step in without needing to go to court for a guardianship or conservatorship.

Step 4: Create a Healthcare Proxy and Advance Directive

This is the document that lets your spouse make medical decisions for you if you cannot speak for yourself.

New Hampshire’s advance directive form allows you to name a healthcare agent (your spouse, in this case) and specify your wishes regarding end-of-life treatment, artificial life support, organ donation, and similar matters. Without this document, hospitals and medical providers may default to whatever the law says rather than what you actually want.

Many couples are uncomfortable talking about this subject. But having the conversation once and putting it in writing means your spouse will never face the impossible situation of trying to make a life-or-death decision without knowing what you would have wanted.

Your advance directive and your healthcare proxy work together. The advance directive records your wishes. The proxy names the person authorized to act on your behalf. You want both.

Step 5: Think About How Property Is Titled

How you hold property jointly with your spouse has legal consequences that are easy to get right at the start of a marriage and more complicated to unwind later.

In New Hampshire, married couples typically hold real estate in one of several ways:

• Joint tenancy with right of survivorship: When one spouse dies, the property automatically passes to the other spouse outside of probate.
• Tenancy in common: Each spouse owns a fractional share. At death, that share goes through the estate rather than automatically to the survivor.
• Solely in one name: The property passes through the will or probate, or by beneficiary designation if one exists.

For most newlywed couples, joint tenancy with right of survivorship on the family home is the most straightforward approach because it ensures the surviving spouse takes ownership automatically. But the right titling structure depends on your overall plan, any prior marriages, children from prior relationships, and other factors.

If you are buying a new home together, your deed will be drafted during the transaction. If you are adding your spouse to a property you already own, a new deed will need to be prepared and recorded.

What About the Marriage and Estate Taxes?

With the federal estate tax exemption now permanently set at $15 million per individual (thanks to the OBBBA signed in 2026), federal estate taxes are not a concern for the vast majority of married couples in New Hampshire. For most newlyweds, the planning conversation is about protecting each other in everyday emergencies, not minimizing estate taxes.

That said, married couples gain access to “portability,” which allows a surviving spouse to use the deceased spouse’s unused estate tax exemption if an estate tax return is filed timely. For couples with significant assets, this is worth discussing with an attorney.

A Note on Timing

We often hear from couples who plan to address estate planning “eventually,” after buying a house, after having children, or after things calm down. We understand. Weddings are exhausting, and there is no shortage of post-wedding logistics to handle.

But the reasons to prioritize this sooner rather than later are straightforward: you are most vulnerable to the consequences of missing documents right now, before you have had years to accumulate a joint financial life and ensure everything is in order. A medical emergency does not check whether you have been married six months or six years.

Getting married is an act of love. So is taking the time, in the weeks and months after your wedding, to make sure your spouse is fully protected if something happens to you. These are not complicated conversations. They are short meetings that result in real protection.