Your Blended Family Is Not Complete Without An Estate Plan
We have all heard lurid stories about widows feuding with their stepchildren over their late husbands’ estate. Both sides accuse the other of using the decedent for his money, in life and in death. Usually, there is more to the story than that, though. Yes, sometimes neither side really cares about the money; they just want to have the last laugh against someone who always seemed like an intruder in one of the closest relationships in their lives. In other cases, they do care about the money, but not purely for selfish reasons. The real conflict is about who will eventually inherit the money after the original beneficiary dies. If Stepmom inherits, then the money she inherited from Dad will eventually go to her own children, Dad’s stepchildren. If she does not have children of her own, it will eventually go to her siblings and their descendants, or to anyone else to whom she chooses to leave it in her will. In other words, it is about which lineage inherits the money, not just which individual. The good news is that the provisions and documents of your estate plan can be effective at preventing disputes between stepparents and stepchildren. For help building an estate plan to keep the peace in your blended family, contact an Orlando estate planning lawyer.
Sign a Prenup and the Rest Will Follow
When you marry late in life, the simplest way to prevent inheritance disputes in a blended family that blended after the stepsiblings reached adulthood is to sign a prenuptial agreement. People tend to think of prenups as a tool of stingy and self-absorbed people to protect them from losing their fortune in a marriage that is doomed to fail, but that is not the only application of prenups. You can agree to any property-related matters in a prenup, not only those that pertain to divorce, but also those that pertain to inheritance. For example, the spouses can waive their right to an elective share of each other’s estate. If the marital home was the separate property of one spouse before the marriage, he can grant his spouse life estate, which means that if he predeceases her, she can live in the house for the rest of her life, but the house is not legally her property; after she dies, his children from his first marriage will inherit it.
Signing a prenuptial agreement will not solve any problems if it conflicts with other estate planning documents, such as if you leave your will unchanged from before you marry your spouse. Instead, you should update your will so that it matches your prenuptial agreement. If you do this, you will have been sufficiently intentional and strategic about your estate plan to prevent disputes during probate.
Contact Gierach and Gierach About Estate Planning for Blended Families
An estate planning lawyer can help you revise your estate plan to prevent conflict in your blended family. Contact Gierach and Gierach, P.A. in Orlando, Florida to discuss your case.
Source:
katiecouric.com/lifestyle/relationships/why-you-should-get-a-prenup/
