The blended family is the product of 2nd (or more) marriages, in which one or more of the parties comes with children from a prior marriage. And then, they may even go on to have children together.
If you have or are part of a blended family, it’s important to understand how estate planning could be exactly what you need to keep your family out of conflict and in love, both during life, in the event of incapacity, and when one or more of the senior generation (read: parents) dies.
Cinderella
Once upon a time, there was a rich man who had a daughter named Cinderella. She was much loved by her parents. But one day, her mother died when Cinderella was just a little girl.
Cinderella's father took care of her and eventually decided to remarry another woman who also had two daughters.
When Cinderella's father passed away, everything was left to his wife, Cinderella's step-mother. Then, when the step-mother passed away, everything - including everything Cinderella's mother left to her father - was left to her step-sisters.
Cinderella inherited nothing from either of her parents, even though she was never disinherited.
The Problem
Cinderella's parents didn't prepare an estate plan that protected Cinderella. She inherited nothing from either of her parents. Instead, everything went to the her step-mother and her step-sisters.
That was not what Cinderella's parents intended though!
The Solution
If only Cinderella's parents put together an estate plan! They could have prepared an estate plan that would allow her father to give a share to his new wife (if that is what he wanted to do), but guarantees that Cinderella would not be disinherited. In other words, when Cinderella's father passes away, a portion of the trust would become irrevocable and left for the benefit of Cinderella.
What Is Your Plan?
If you don't put together an estate plan, the government has one for you. And the government's plan (the California intestate code) was not designed to protect your blended family. Probate Court is filled with stories of painful unintentional consequences by the failure to plan, such as:
- An elderly surviving spouse was forced out of her home when the house was inherited by the spouse's children
- Family heirlooms went to the second spouse and no longer stayed within the family
- Conflicts between the surviving spouse and children over what was "separate" or "community" property
- The surviving spouse decided to spend everything they inherited from their deceased, wealthy spouse, leaving nothing left for the deceased spouse's children to inherit
Most blended families prefer to design their own plan to reflect their family's values, needs and circumstances.
When you prepare a plan with Marsala Law Firm, we articulate these potential future conflicts so you can design a plan that keeps your family out of court and out of conflict. An estate plan for a blended family needs to be more detailed and thought out, to avoid those unintentional consequences. Clients often remark on how they didn't think of this or didn't realize that. We help walk you through those problem areas you didn't know existed and ensure your estate plan has protective language to guard against those unintended consequences.
Moreover, we don't plan in a vacuum. We make sure your plan makes sense when it is actually implemented. Too often we see plans that make theoretical sense but practically, it made no sense at all - it was complete overkill and the administrative burden of that fancy trust just didn't make sense when it was time to implement it. We make sure the plans we design will work the way we intend, and not just a pile of useless paper.