Will Planning In Blended Families

If you are currently in a blended family, the need for a will is going to be more important than in traditional families. Both you and your spouse need to make sure that your property is divided in the way that you want, not necessarily basing those decisions on which child gets what parent's property. The following are some things you need to think about when discussing your will:

Decide How You Want Things to Be Distributed

An important part of will planning for blended families is deciding exactly how you want things to go once you are gone. You and your spouse need to be very clear with one another about how you want to divide your estate. You will need to talk about who gets your physical property, cash, insurance distributions, homes, and anything else you own. If there are specific children you want to get certain items, you will need to clearly spell this out in your will.

Know The Process

Having a will made is not hard at all, but it can get interesting when you have children from different relationships. Most people typically leave their estate to the surviving parent. However, there can be a problem with this if the surviving spouse chooses to will everything to his or her own children, while leaving the other children out. This is why a will is so important.

There are several ways you can make sure that your own children get what you want them to have once you pass away. A great way to do this is by using a trust. You can place your assets in a trust with a stipulated payment to the surviving spouse. This way, your spouse will still get money from your estate, and your children will get what is remaining based on how you set up the trust.

Do Not Forget To Review All Accounts

When you are planning your will, it is a great time to look at your other accounts. This includes your life insurance beneficiaries, your pension, any retirement accounts, and so on. Make sure you have your current spouse listed. Some people may forget to remove a former spouse after getting remarried. This can obviously pose some problems once you are gone.

Making a will is not an ideal topic for a date night, but it is an important part of a relationship, especially in a blended family. You do not want to have your family fighting over your assets after your death. If you do not know how to get started with making a will, be sure to visit an estate planning attorney for guidance.