What an estate planning expert wants couples to know about prenups, wills

FILE - Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce walks with Taylor Swift following the AFC Championship NFL football game between the Baltimore Ravens and the Kansas City Chiefs in Baltimore on Jan. 28, 2024. The Chiefs won 17-10. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File) (Julio Cortez/AP)

Taylor Swift has spent years singing about love stories, breakups and “forever and always” - but when it comes to her real-life engagement to NFL star Travis Kelce, one expert says the next verse should really be about prenups and estate planning.

Erin Bury, CEO of Willful and a self-proclaimed Swiftie, had a slightly different reaction when most people were busy swooning over their fairytale romance. She wondered whether the couple had already sat down with lawyers to discuss prenups and wills.

“It’s not the first thing that comes to mind when you see their engagement news,” she told CTVNews.ca in an interview. “But I see every day the impact of people who have not put proper plans in place for how to divide their assets and protect them when they pass away ... when you’re dealing with eight-figure fortune, it’s even more critical.”

Swift shared her own reflections on her music catalogue, in a New Heights podcast appearance, where she explained that buying back her masters mattered because she wanted the choice of passing them down to her kids, not someone else’s heirs.

Bury said that’s what estate planning is about.

“How does she ensure that the hard work that she’s done over the past decades to build this is protected, even after she gets married?” she said.

But while billion-dollar music rights make headlines, the principle applies to every couple. Without proper wills or prenups, families risk losing not only money, but clarity, control and peace of mind.

Why couples should talk money before marriage

Money is still a taboo subject in Canadian households, especially new relationships. Bury said she and her husband started Willful after his uncle passed away without ever discussing his end-of-life wishes.

“It really struck us that even after 30 years of marriage, many couples don’t know where important paperwork is stored, whether their partner wants to be buried or cremated, or how they’d like assets divided.”

Her advice? Treat estate planning like other financial conversations: ask what assets each partner is bringing into the marriage, how they should be combined and how they should be passed down to kids, siblings, friends or causes you care about.

It’s not just about money, Bury explained.

“Would your partner want a traditional funeral or a really fun wake?”

Bury said there’s higher stakes when larger assets and a public figure are at play.

“She’s not just passing down money. She’s passing down intellectual property for masters and all of the rights to her music and her public persona.”

Bury said these legal documents go hand in hand with estate planning documents, saying that a prenup outlines how your assets will be treated in the event that a marriage dissolves, while a will is about what happens if a person passes away.

Even outside the spotlight, Bury said the logic holds. In Quebec, common-law partners don’t automatically inherit assets. Without a will, they may have to go to court to make a claim - and could lose, Bury said.

“Paper it, get some of those estate plans in place so that your common law spouse is protected,” Bury advised.

In some provinces, marriage can actually invalidate a will made beforehand, Bury said.

“It’s also important to review and update these documents when you go through major life moments like getting engaged, getting married or having a child,” she added.

Beyond bank accounts

When most people think about wills, they picture houses, cars and bank accounts. But Bury said the reality of modern estate planning is much broader.

“A will isn’t just about who gets your assets - it’s about who makes decisions for you, who cares for your pets and how sentimental or intellectual property is handled,” she explained.

For Swift, that could mean ensuring her billion-dollar music catalogue or likeness rights aren’t misused after her death.

“We’re even starting to see people include AI usage rights in wills,” Bury said. “For someone like Swift, that might mean preventing a posthumous hologram concert or replicas of her voice.”

According to Wilful’s research with Angus Reid, 57 per cent of Canadians believe their estate automatically goes to their spouse if they pass away without a will.

Bury sees it as a “gift” to your partner.

“If Taylor passes away, Travis, as her spouse, he will be acting as the executor of her estate and cleaning things up. So the easier that she can make it for him, the easier it’ll be for him at a time when he’s grieving.”

The power duo

In a post to Instagram, the pop star announced her engagement to NFL star Travis Kelce.

“Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married,” her post on Instagram read.

• Celebrity engagement rings worth millions

Rumours of the two dating began in August 2023 after Kelce was spotted at one of Swift’s concerts in Kansas City — where Kelce plays with the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs — during her Eras Tour.

By November of that year, the two confirmed they were together in a Wall Street Journal interview, during which Kelce said he’s “never dated” anyone like her before.

Swift and Kelce’s romance captured the attention of both sports and pop culture fans alike as the global music star and three-time Super Bowl champion seemed like a couple straight out of a fairytale.

Swift has attended Chiefs games on multiple occasions with fans leaning into the trend of labelling her an NFL WAG — an acronym for “wife and girlfriend.”

Their relationship quickly became a cultural touchstone, fuelling headlines and hashtags across social media and promoting businesses to capitalize on the “Swiftie-WAG” craze.