Just Engaged or Newly Married? Here's the Legal Checklist Most Couples Skip

Most couples spend months picking flowers, venues, and seating charts — and almost no time on the legal side of building a life together. That's the gap Litix Legal set out to close in a recent webinar, "Proactively Planning for Life Together," hosted by Litix Legal co-founder and lead attorney Ryan Hurley and fractional CMO Beth Silhasek. Ryan brings more than 20 years of legal experience, from corporate law to real estate, to the family law and estate planning work he does today. Below is a rundown of the key takeaways for anyone who's engaged, newly married, or simply building a life with a partner.

Why Couples Overlook Legal Planning

It's easy to assume the legal stuff can wait until "after the wedding." But Ryan's advice is to start the conversation the moment things get serious — even before an engagement. That's especially true in Arizona, which doesn't recognize common-law marriage. If you're cohabitating, splitting a mortgage, or combining finances with a partner you're not legally married to, you don't have the automatic protections marriage provides.

The starting point isn't paperwork — it's conversation. Where will you live? Whose name is the house in? Will one of you step back from a career to raise kids? What do you each want to happen if something happens to you? Getting aligned on these questions early — ideally through a free consultation — makes everything that follows much easier.

Community Property, Explained

In Arizona, nearly everything acquired during a marriage — assets, income, and debts — is considered community property, meaning it belongs to both spouses equally. That cuts both ways: if a spouse steps away from a career to raise children, that lost income is treated as a contribution to the community. But if a spouse takes on debt from a risky business venture, that debt is shared too, whether the other spouse knew about it or not.

Prenups Aren't Just for the Wealthy

Prenuptial agreements carry an outdated stereotype — an older, wealthy spouse protecting assets from a much younger partner. That's not who's actually getting them anymore. Prenups today are increasingly common precisely because they force couples to have hard conversations early, while everyone is calm and nothing is on the line yet.

A prenup can address far more than "what happens in a divorce." It can protect an inherited family home, formally document one partner's financial contribution to a house before marriage, clarify spousal maintenance expectations, and coordinate with any existing individual trusts. None of it assumes the marriage will fail — it just means both people know exactly where they stand.

And these documents aren't permanent. Life changes — a new job, a decision to have kids, an unexpected inheritance — and prenups, wills, and trusts should be revisited every couple of years, or whenever a major life event happens.

Wills vs. Trusts: What's the Difference?

This is one of the most common points of confusion, and Ryan broke it down simply:

• A will documents what you want to happen to your assets and, critically, who should care for your children if something happens to both parents. But a will still has to go through probate — the court process of verifying it and distributing assets — which can be slow, costly, and emotionally difficult for grieving family members to navigate.

• A trust lets you skip probate entirely. You designate someone to manage the trust's assets during your life and appoint a successor to take over after you're gone, without court involvement.

  
  

The general rule of thumb: if you have any meaningful assets — like a house — you should have a trust. Regardless of assets, everyone should have a will, especially if you have children, since a trust alone can't legally designate a guardian.

Medical Decisions: Two Documents, Two Purposes

Couples often lump this together, but there are actually two distinct documents:

1. Medical power of attorney — designates who makes medical decisions on your behalf if you're incapacitated (for example, unconscious after an accident).

2. Advance directive — spells out your specific wishes for end-of-life situations, like whether you'd want life support in the case of a terminal illness or permanent loss of quality of life.

Without these in place, decisions may fall to whichever family members are present — and in a new marriage, a spouse's family may not agree with what the spouse says their partner wanted. That disagreement can end up playing out in a hospital room, or even in court, at the worst possible time.

Financial Power of Attorney

If you're incapacitated even briefly, someone still needs to pay bills, run a business, or access accounts — and banks won't allow that without proper documentation. A financial power of attorney authorizes someone to manage your finances if you're unable to. It's worth noting: banks and credit card companies often require an original, notarized document, not just a copy — so know where your originals are kept, and consider having more than one (a common practice is one at home, one with your spouse, and one with your designated power of attorney).

What Happens When You Have Kids

Having children raises the stakes. A will becomes essential — it's the only place you can legally name a guardian for your children if both parents pass away. A trust, meanwhile, lets you control how and when your children access an inheritance, from ongoing needs like education to a lump sum at a designated age. It's not a fun conversation, but naming these decisions in advance protects your kids and makes life significantly easier for whoever ends up caring for them.

What About DIY Online Legal Services?

Litix acknowledges that online will-and-trust services exist and can work fine for very simple situations. The risk is in what you don't know to ask. A static online form can't flag that a piece of property you mentioned should probably be in a trust, or notice a gap in your plan the way a conversation with an attorney can.

What It Actually Costs

One of the biggest misconceptions is that this process is expensive and drawn out. Litix Legal operates on flat fees, published on their website, so there are no surprise hourly bills. Rough pricing shared in the webinar:

• Prenuptial agreements: $1,599–$2,599, depending on complexity (e.g., business interests or existing trusts on either side)

• Basic Will: $699

• Will and trust packages: $1,599 - $1,999

A free consultation determines which tier fits your situation, so you know the cost before committing to anything. Once the fact-finding is done — usually just a questionnaire covering your assets, debts, and goals — the drafting itself moves quickly.

The Bottom Line

None of this has to be figured out all at once, and it doesn't have to be complicated. The advice from Litix Legal is simple: start with a conversation with your partner, then take the first step of booking a free consultation. From there, everything else tends to fall into place.

Want the full conversation? Watch the complete webinar here.

Litix Legal also hosts a casual bimonthly meetup called The Lawyer Walks into a Bar at Linger Longer Lounge, where you can ask general legal questions over a drink — no formal consultation required. Find details on their Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook.