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Explicit Beneficiaries · Special Situations
Name the people the law would skip.
Long-term partners, chosen family, and committed households whose relationships Virginia's default statutes do not recognize. The default rules will not include them, so we name them explicitly, in your will, your beneficiary forms, and the documents that decide who speaks for you.
First call is a conversation, not a commitment.
The Short Answer
Virginia's default rules follow marriage and bloodlines. A long-term partner or chosen family member is generally not an automatic heir, no matter how committed the relationship. The only way to protect them is to name them explicitly in your documents, leaving nothing to the default.
How It Works
Making your intentions explicit.
When the law will not recognize your family on its own, the plan has to do it deliberately. Here is the work that protects the people you choose.
1
We name beneficiaries directly
Your will names your partner, chosen family, or anyone else you want to provide for, by name. Because the intestacy statute would not include them, this is the document that makes your wishes count.
2
We align the beneficiary forms
Retirement accounts and life insurance pass by their own designations. We make sure those forms name the people you intend, so a major asset does not default away from your partner to a blood relative.
3
We name decision-makers
A power of attorney and an advance medical directive let your partner make financial and medical decisions for you. Without them, the law may turn to relatives instead, even over a partner of many years.
4
We build it to hold up
Where a plan provides for people outside the traditional structure, clarity matters. We draft it carefully so your intentions are unmistakable and harder to challenge later.
i
Inheritance is only half of it
For non-traditional families, the documents that name decision-makers matter as much as the ones that pass assets. If your partner cannot make medical or financial decisions for you because the law does not recognize the relationship, the people who can may not be the people you would have chosen. Naming your partner in a power of attorney and an advance medical directive closes that gap.
This page is general information, not legal advice for your situation. We tailor the documents to your family.
What We Name
Every place the law needs to be told.
Each of these documents is a place where, without your explicit instruction, the default rules would leave your chosen family out.
01
The Will
Names your partner and chosen family as beneficiaries, since intestacy would not recognize them on its own.
02
Beneficiary Forms
Directs retirement accounts and life insurance to the people you choose, rather than defaulting to relatives.
03
Power of Attorney
Gives your partner authority over financial matters if you cannot act, instead of leaving it to the courts or relatives.
04
Medical Directive
Names your partner to make medical decisions and speak with your doctors, so they are not shut out at a hospital.
Worth Knowing
Named, or left to the statute.
For families the default rules were not written for, the gap between a written plan and silence is the widest it gets.
+ When you name them
- Your partner and chosen family inherit as you intend
- Beneficiary forms direct assets to the right people
- Your partner can make medical and financial decisions
- Your wishes are clear and harder to challenge
− When you do not
- An unmarried partner is generally not an automatic heir
- Assets can pass to blood relatives instead
- Your partner may have no authority to make decisions for you
- Relatives, not your chosen family, may be turned to
Alisa Chunephisal, Esq.
Family Law Attorney
From the Attorney
"The law does not know your family the way you do. If you do not put their names in writing, it will use its own list instead."
The default rules are blunt. They follow marriage and blood, and they do not bend for a twenty-year partnership or a chosen family that has shown up for you in every way that matters. That is not a judgment, it is just how the statute works.
Which means the fix is entirely in your hands. Name the people you love, in the will, on the beneficiary forms, and in the documents that decide who makes decisions for you. Once it is in writing, your family is your family, exactly as you define it.
The Full Plan
Explore the rest of the estate plan.
01 Last Will & Testament →
02 Power of Attorney →
03 Advance Medical Directive →
04 Guardianship Designation →
05 Beneficiary Coordination →
06 Testamentary Trusts →
07 Post-Divorce Updates →
08 Blended-Family Planning →
09 Special-Needs Provisions →
10 Business Owner Planning →
11 Non-Traditional Families You are here
12 Plan Reviews →
Questions Families Ask
Plain answers about non-traditional families.
Why do we need explicit planning?
Because Virginia's default rules are built around marriage and blood relationships. Long-term partners, chosen family, and committed households that do not fit that mold are generally not recognized by the intestacy statute. If you want those people to inherit or to make decisions for you, you have to name them explicitly in your documents.
Does Virginia recognize an unmarried partner as an heir?
Generally no. Under Virginia's intestate succession rules, an unmarried partner is not an automatic heir, no matter how long the relationship has lasted. Without a will or other documents naming your partner, your estate can pass to blood relatives instead, leaving your partner with nothing by default.
How do I make sure my partner inherits?
You name them explicitly. A will, beneficiary designations, and trust provisions can all direct assets to the people you choose, regardless of whether the law would recognize them automatically. The key is that nothing is left to the default rules, because the default rules will not include them.
What about medical and financial decisions?
This is just as important as inheritance. Without a power of attorney and an advance medical directive naming your partner, they may have no legal authority to make financial or medical decisions for you, and family members may be turned to instead. Naming your partner in those documents is essential.
When You Are Ready
Put your family in writing.
Tell us who your family is, in your own words, and we will name them across every document that matters, from the will to the beneficiary forms to the people who speak for you. Three Northern Virginia offices, one phone number.