There are a number of special estate planning considerations that affect those in a blended family. Remarriages are on the rise. According to the article “Estate planning documents for second marriages” from the Cleveland Jewish News, half of previously married seniors have married again.  And the issues are compounded if each spouse has one or more children from a previoius marriage.

We’ve all heard the horror stories of what happens when there is inadequate or no estate planning done to address these issues. Take, for example, a couple each of whom had children at the time of their marriage. Twenty years after the marriage, the husband dies. He had wanted to provide for his second wife, so his will stated that all his assets went to his wife. He may have assumed that anything left would go back to his children after her death, but nothing was put in place to make that happen.

What actually occurred was that his wife lived a long time after he passed, and she simply combined their assets. When she died, her will left all of the assets to her children, and her husband’s children received nothing. The husband’s children didn’t believe that he meant to do that, but because of the lack of planning, that’s exactly what happened.

What were the alternatives? He could have set up a marital trust to hold the assets for his second wife on his death, but upon the wife’s passing, would have gone back to his children. He could have named his wife as trustee to control the trust assets, or, if he wanted extra insurance that the assets remaining at his wife’s death would pass to his children, he could name an independent person or a trust company as trustee to oversee the trust.

Another horror story involves the couple in a second marriage who do not have wills or any other estate plan. Absent a will stating otherwise, Texas law provides that, if the surviving spouse is not the parent of all of the deceased spouse’s children,  a deceased spouse’s share of community property goes to the deceased spouse’s children. As a result, many surviving spouses are shocked go find out that they own their home and other property acquired during the marriage with their step children.

Anyone involved in a second marriage, especially if they have children from a previous marriage, needs to review their estate planning to make sure that their wishes will be carried out and not left to chance or the dictates of Texas law. Not only should they review their wills, but also insurance policies and retirement accounts to make sure that their beneficiary designations say what they want. For more information on what to consider if you are in a blended family situation see https://galligan-law.com/life-stages/blended-families/

There’s no “set it and forget” plan for estate documents, so before you walk down the aisle a second time, or shortly after you do so, speak with an estate planning attorney to clarify your goals and put them into the appropriate estate planning documents.

Reference: Cleveland Jewish News (May 7, 2019) “Estate planning documents for second marriages”

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