Remarrying and gaining stepchildren and stepgrandchildren can be a beautiful thing. You must not forget to incorporate your newly blended family into your estate planning documents. However, this is not to say that doing so is going to be easy. Follow along to find out what estate planning challenges you may face as a blended family and how a proficient Broward County remarriage protection lawyer at The Probate Lawyers can help you overcome them.
What are common estate planning challenges with a blended family?
Upon remarrying, the odds are that you likely have several stepchildren and stepgrandchildren added to your children and stepchildren. This blended family structure may come with its challenges, and require strategic estate planning tactics. Examples of such challenges are as follows:
- With the blend of beneficiaries you now have, you may be worried about the fairness of how much you should leave for your children and grandchildren versus your stepchildren and stepgrandchildren.
- With the significant number of beneficiaries you now have, you may be worried about whether the inheritance size each individual may receive is sufficient enough to meet their needs.
- With the significant number of beneficiaries you now have, you may be worried about whether your appointed executor can handle such a complex distribution of assets.
While the aforementioned challenges are personal worries, you may also worry about your former spouse’s estate plan upon their remarriage. For example, you may be worried that they forgot to update their estate plan, so their assets will be passed to their new spouse instead of your children. Or, you may be worried that your former spouse may disinherit your children altogether. This is all the more worrisome if your former spouse has more assets to pass down than you do.
What are possible resolutions to these challenges?
Arguably the most common estate planning topic is, before even getting divorced and then remarried, to include a remarriage protection provision in your estate planning documents. Such provisions may be found in your revocable or irrevocable trust, and they ensure that your assets are saved for your children should your former spouse remarry.
But if you neglected to include this provision, then you may want to consider revoking your estate planning documents and establishing entirely new ones. This is likely your best bet if your wishes have largely switched alongside your significant life change when becoming part of a blended family.
And as far as calculating fair inheritances and who should distribute them, this is best done with the assistance of a lawyer. When it comes to your estate planning, there is no time like the present to get started. So please reach out to a talented Broward County estate lawyer from The Probate Lawyers at your earliest possible convenience.
