wills, prenups and protecting your children?

Question

If you are getting married for a 2nd or 3rd time and want to protect your money/ property to ensure that after your passing or in the event of a divorce it goes to your children, is there really any sure fire way to do so? People do pre-nup's and they have a will, but if the spouse with the money (who had a pre-nup and a will) is somehow convinced by person they married to undo the pre-nup or change the will (maybe because the person has dementia) all the things that occurred while the person was in "right mind" would be undone, thus screwing the kids out of their inheritance.
Can you give POA rights to you child, by-passing the rights of the second spouse? Also could you make your will to state that your child must sign off on any changes, preventing the second spouse from having the will changed in their favor

oh and I live in Pa

Answer 1

In Pennsylvania, you should work with a good estate planning attorney. Yes, you can do a pre-nup with your soon-to-be spouse, but there are some things you should be aware of. First, there should be full financial disclosure. Secondly, your soon-to-be spouse should be represented by her own legal counsel [it is recommended that it be by an attorney from a separate law firm]. You should be up-front and not hide any information.

If everything is acceptable, you can then proceed to writing wills or, if you prefer, trust agreements disposing of your property.

There are some situations in which pre-nups are modified after the fact. I know of a situation involving a bank executive vice president who changed his pre-nup by writing a post-nuptial agreement several years after marriage to his second wife to actually give her more than what she would have received under the pre-nup document, and his reasoning was that the second wife had become more of a mother to his own children and grandmother to his grandchildren than his first wife had been.

There are two basic reasons for pre-nups: the first is to protect one's premarital assets in the instance of a future divorce and the second is to ascertain that money and property will go to children of the first marriage.

Under Pennsylvania law, as well as the law of many other states, a spouse always has the right to elect against the will and inter-vivos transactions. The pre-nuptial and/or post-nuptial agreements are actually a waiver of that right. For that reason, it is essential to have the best legal representation.

No, you can't give a power of attorney or write a trust agreement to bypass the second spouse. You could give money and property away before the marriage, but once you are married the spouse acquires the right to certain property unless he or she waives the rights by a well-negotiated agreement.

Answer 2

Talk to a lawyer.Yahoo answers is not the place for such important questions.
Prenups can be overturned,usually the signer says they were under duress at signing,IE sign or no wedding bells.