Your Estate Plan Can Keep the Peace In Your Blended Family
If someone seems to have a more harmonious family than yours, you are probably not seeing the whole picture. While some people have built the skill of managing conflict with their family members, many more have learned instead to put on a façade of perfection. Blended families present an additional challenge to family harmony. When you remarry after being widowed or divorced, your new spouse and your children might make effort to form a familial bond with each other, especially if the remarriage happen when your children are grown up, and that is certainly better than a family where stepparents and stepchildren openly antagonize each other. Don’t assume that your blended family’s new normal will not fall apart after you die. Your spouse might be tolerant of your children calling you by a silly nickname, even though she was taught that children should treat their elders with respect, and your children might be tolerant of your spouse’s Christmas decorations, even though your kids would prefer something edgier. This does not guarantee that any of them will be content with the inheritance you left them, and your kids might direct their discontent at your surviving spouse, or the other way around. In the inheritance, it is your decision who gets which property from your estate. For help building an estate plan that can prevent your blended family from falling apart after you are gone, contact a Tampa estate planning lawyer.
It All Starts With a Prenuptial Agreement
In the stereotypical view of prenuptial agreements, at least one of the parties that signs the prenup is young, but prenups are even more valuable if both parties are over 50, mature enough to know that they want to be together for the rest of their lives and to know the importance of putting your financial decisions in writing. If you are getting remarried late in life, you need a prenuptial agreement, even if you are sure that you will stay together until one spouse dies. If you designate any assets as nonmarital in your prenuptial agreement, your spouse cannot inherit these assets from you unless you will them to your spouse in your will. Likewise, a prenup is the proper venue for you and your spouse to waive the right to a share of each other’s estate.
Failure to update your will is a common estate planning mistake. If you and your spouse sign a prenup, it will give you the motivation to update a will, because if you die with a will and a prenup that contradict each other, it will create a mess during probate. Once you have a prenuptial agreement, rewriting your will so that it matches your prenuptial agreement is more manageable.
Contact David Toback About Preventing Conflict In Your Blended Family
A Central Florida estate planning lawyer can help you revise your estate plan if you are about to remarry. Contact David Toback in Tampa, Florida to set up a consultation.
Source:
katiecouric.com/lifestyle/relationships/why-you-should-get-a-prenup/
