Blended families are more common than ever before. Many people who have children divorce and then eventually start new relationships. Remarrying after divorce can lead to the creation of a blended family if a spouse also has children.
Blended families provide a lot of love and practical support. They also create a variety of unique legal and financial challenges. A parent who intends to remarry and create a blended family likely needs to create or revisit an estate plan as part of that process, possibly to address the following issues.
The inheritances of their children
One of the most pressing issues when starting a blended family is the conflict between the rights of a spouse and the rights of children when someone dies. Technically, intestate succession laws already address this issue. The amount of an estate a spouse retains depends on whether they are also a parent to someone’s surviving children. A Texas estate plan may need to include very specific terms for someone to protect the resources that they want their children to inherit.
The protection of stepchild-stepparent relationships
Financial disputes have a way of poisoning previously positive stepfamily relationships. When a parent dies, children may expect to receive most or all of the property from the estate. The surviving spouse or stepparent may have similar expectations. Many blended families have faced permanent disruption of stepfamily bonds because of probate conflicts. The parent planning their estate probably needs to have some difficult conversations with their spouse and with their children as they continue to mature so that everyone has the same expectations about the probate process.
Authority in the event of an emergency
Particularly as children mature, tension between stepparents and stepchildren can become more of an issue. In a scenario where a parent requires emergency medical care, for example, the children might disagree with their stepparent about what medical decisions to make and who has the authority to make those choices. The decision to create advance directives empowering specific people to make medical choices and outlining medical preferences can reduce the likelihood that the family may end up fighting over the medical treatment someone requires and the management of their resources in an emergency.
Oftentimes, estate planning for the protection of a blended family works well in conjunction with a marital agreement. Taking the time to draft or update estate planning documents is a smart move for anyone with children who is about to remarry. Proper estate planning can help protect the family unit as well as the individual members of the family when a tragedy eventually occurs.