Estate Planning for Blended Families: Navigating Complexities and Protecting Your Legacy

While blended families were an anomaly in past generations, today, they are commonplace. Even for those lucky South Florida families who blend together as seamlessly as the Brady Bunch, careful estate planning is essential to ensure that both your current spouse, and your biological children, receive the inheritance that you intended for them. Without a carefully crafted estate plan, your assets may ultimately be divided according to Florida’s intestacy laws. This may result in unintended beneficiaries of your assets.

For a blended family, if you create a Will that leaves all your assets to your spouse, some or all of your biological children could wind up being unintentionally disinherited. In fact, if you predecease your spouse and the spouse remarries, the new spouse could end up inheriting your assets instead of your biological children. You should also consider if you want to leave any assets to your stepchildren, who would otherwise end up unintentionally disinherited. Legally, there is no obligation to do so, but many families choose to include their stepchildren in their estate planning if they have a close relationship with them.

To help ensure your assets are distributed according to your wishes, keep the following tips in mind:

• Establishing a Trust allows you to control exactly who receives how much of your assets, and the timeline for distribution. Utilizing a Trust can be the most effective way to provide for your spouse for the remainder of his or her lifetime, while ensuring your biological children receive their fair share of your assets as well.  This is usually set up as a Revocable Trust that you fund and control during your lifetime, and turns into an Irrevocable Trust upon your passing.

• Ensure your beneficiary designations are up-to-date on all of your investments and life insurance policies. The beneficiary designations on these documents supersede the instructions in your Will or Trust, so it’s essential that they remain current.

• Both you, and your spouse, should communicate about your estate planning intentions with one another. If you have adult children, you may want to let them know as well. This can help prevent Will or Trust challenges, which are costly and delay distribution of your assets to your loved ones.

• Estate planning for blended families is complex. Using online “DIY” estate planning materials can lead to costly and time-consuming headaches for your family. A law firm that specializes in Estate Planning, such as Huth, Pratt & Milhauser, can explain all of your legal options to ensure your assets are distributed according to your wishes.

If you are part of a blended family in Boca Raton, or anywhere in South Florida, contact Huth, Pratt & Milhauser to learn how to best set up your estate plan to distribute your assets according to your wishes.

Huth, Pratt & Milhauser

Huth, Pratt & Milhauser is a boutique law firm that offers a wide range of legal services in the specialty areas of Wills, Trusts, Estates, Probate, Guardianship, and related matters. The range of legal services that Huth, Pratt & Milhauser provides in these specialty areas includes planning, administration and litigation. The experience and skills of our attorneys and staff, coupled with our knowledge of applicable law, enable us to provide outstanding representation to our clients.

Although we are located in South Florida, we proudly serve clients throughout the country and around the world from our Boca Raton offices. We strive to provide superior and focused counsel in a timely manner and at a competitive price.

2500 North Military Trail, Suite 460
Boca Raton, Florida   33431
Phone: 561-392-1800

Newsletter Sign-Up

Join Client Portal