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Why Blended Families Need Extra Consideration When It Comes to Estate Planning
Around 40% of families are blended in some form in the United States, and that means that nearly half of the U.S. population needs to consider how this may affect their estate planning.
Traditionally, assets are passed down to living spouses and children, but for those who have been married more than once or have children and step-children, this process can be more complicated. Understanding how being part of a blended family needs to factor into your estate planning is important to ensure you’re prepared for the future.
Blended Families and the Estate Planning Process
Blended families are described as such because they often involve two people who already have children getting married and, therefore, having to blend the two families into one. However, blended families can also happen when someone who already has children marries someone who doesn’t and then they have children together.
Blended families can come with complicated family dynamics, and this affects every area of life — including estate planning. For example, it can take more forethought and planning to ensure that the children receive their part of the inheritance before the new spouse passes or to protect assets from going to a previous spouse.
Common Estate Planning Issues With Blended Families
There are specific estate planning challenges that are common with blended families, and knowing what the potential sticking points may be ahead of time can help you be more proactive.
- Step-children: While your step-children are undoubtedly considered a true part of your family, they are not automatically beneficiaries of your estate. If you want to ensure your step-children get an inheritance, you will have to specifically spell that out in the will or set up a trust.
- Previous marriages: It’s important to update any life insurance policies, trusts, or other estate planning tools when you go through a divorce, but many people forget to do this. If your life insurance benefits or other assets are set to be disbursed to a previous spouse, it can affect how much of the estate is left to be distributed to your current spouse and any children.
- The possibility of accidental disinheritance. If you have your own children prior to a second (or subsequent) marriage and you don’t make specific provisions, it’s possible for those children to be disinherited if all of your assets go to a surviving spouse.
Because each family is unique, it’s important to work with an estate planning attorney who can sit down with you to explain the options and strategies available to ensure all your children and your spouse are provided for.
Creating a Comprehensive Estate Plan
Creating a comprehensive estate plan when you have a blended family means ensuring that each member of your family is protected. Estate planning tools like trusts can give you peace of mind knowing that your children will get their share of your assets even if there’s a disagreement or other issue between them and your spouse after you die.
Without an estate plan in place, your estate will be subject to Pennsylvania’s inheritancy laws. For blended families, this most often means that half of the estate goes to the surviving spouse, and the other half is split between all the biological children. If this isn’t what you want, you’ll need to work with an estate attorney to devise a plan and ensure everyone is aware of your wishes.
What to Do When You Need Help
The most important thing you can do to protect your family is to be proactive. An estate planning attorney can help you understand the inheritancy laws of Pennsylvania so you’re aware of what happens if you don’t have a will in place. They can then walk you through all of your options and ensure that you’ve planned for every potential scenario, whether that means setting up assets in a trust or naming your children as the beneficiaries of your life insurance. Call the office of Peak Law Group, LTD, at 610-989-7064 to speak to a member of our team.
