The rise in blended families, when a person remarries and has children from a previous marriage, has led to a corresponding rise in those families fighting over estates. While these fights cannot always be avoided, there are ways to minimize their possibility.
When a parent with adult children remarries, it is often difficult to devise an estate plan that pleases both the new spouse and the children. Both the new spouse and the children can easily feel slighted. This is particularly true if there is other tension between them such as bitterness over the marriage itself.
This has led to a lot of fighting over estates.
Recently, Bloomberg published a list of ways to help minimize the chances of these fights in an article titled “Ways That Blended Families Can Avoid Bitterness.”
The Bloomberg list includes:
If you have any questions about minimizing conflicts over your estate in your blended family, schedule an appointment with an experienced estate planning attorney.
Reference: Bloomberg (November 10, 2014) “Ways That Blended Families Can Avoid a Wealth of Bitterness“