Estate Planning for Blended Families and Couples who Have Children from Prior Relationships

Basic estate planning for heterosexual couples involves creating a Will, Financial Power of Attorney, Medical Power of Attorney and Advanced Health Care Directive. In this traditional plan, each spouse usually leaves money to the other (occasionally in trust for tax planning purposes). On the death of the surviving spouse, everything is left to the children. The surviving spouse is usually executor and trustee of any trusts. If a traditional couple does not create a Will, the state's intestacy scheme will generally send the money in the same direction - but without any trust or tax planning and without an efficient probate scheme. As a result, it is cumbersome, but not the worst result in the world. Blended families are best described as families in which either the husband, wife or both have children from a previous relationship. It is much more important for blended families to prepare their estate planning documents because of the strong possibility that a loved one might accidentally be disinherited. For example, a man has a child from a previous marriage. He then marries spouse number two. Several years later, the man dies without a Will. Depending upon the estate and how the couple had their assets titled, it is possible that the child could be completely cut out. A Will would give the couple more say in exactly who benefits and when.

Special planning is needed for blended families to ensure that the surviving spouse and children from the prior relationship are provided for. This often involves setting up irrevocable life insurance trusts or segregating assets.

Ignoring the issue not only leads to estate litigation, but a more expensive estate administration process and higher taxes. If you are in a blended relationship, I strongly recommend seeing a competent estate planning attorney in a jurisdiction near you to discuss out all the issues that affect you.

For more information on Estate Planning, please visit my blog: Kevin A. Pollock BLAWG,

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