Making A Will In A Blended Family

In her most recent blog, Wills and Probate Solicitor, Charlotte Day discusses Making a Will in a Blended Family …

A ‘blended family’ is a family which includes children from previous relationships i.e. you may have remarried and have your own children, whilst your new spouse/civil partner also has children of their own from a previous relationship.

Making a Will in a blended family scenario needs a lot of careful thought to ensure that none of the children or stepchildren are left out – even inadvertently.

Why Do I Need A Will If I Have A Blended Family?

If you die without a Will, and you are married or in a civil partnership, most of your assets will pass to your spouse or civil partner under the Intestacy Rules. Your spouse or civil partner may not be the biological or adoptive parent to your children so if they die, also not having made a Will, then their estate (including any money they inherited from you) will pass under the Intestacy Rules to their own biological and adopted children.

The Intestacy Rules do not make any provision for stepchildren. Therefore, although most or all your money passes to your surviving spouse or civil partner, if they then die without a Will, your children will not inherit.

It is always advisable to die with a Will in place as it allows you to control who you want to deal with your affairs and where you want the money to go.

What Type Of Will Should I Make?

A Basic Mirror Will

A Basic Mirror Will is a straightforward Will which married couples or couples in a civil partnership often make to provide for each other on the first of their deaths and then to their children on the death of the survivor.

If there are step children involved, then there is a risk that they may not inherit under their step parent’s Will, unless they have been specifically named.

Even if the couple made Mirror Wills providing for both sets of children, there is nothing to stop one party from changing the provisions of their own Will to exclude the stepchildren later. This might be done in secret during their lifetimes, or after the death of the first.

We quite often see that there has been a falling out, a change in circumstances or a loss in contact, after the death of the first spouse or civil partner with the survivor then wishing to change their Will to exclude the stepchildren.

A Basic Mirror Will doesn’t offer any protection for blended family scenarios, so it might be better to consider Life Interest Trust Wills.

The Life Interest Trust Will

Life Interest Trust Wills are beneficial in a blended family scenario as they can offer a degree of protection for both sides of the family and can ensure that your assets pass to your children.

Life Interest Trust Wills are used most commonly used in respect of a jointly owned property to provide that the surviving spouse/civil partner can stay living in the property for the rest of their life or until another triggering event which causes the trust to come to an end, whilst protecting the money in the deceased spouse’s/civil partner’s share of the property for the children.

For example, husband and wife jointly own a property (as tenants in common) and they both have children from previous relationships. Husband dies having made a Will which creates a life interest in his share of the property for his wife. The wife can stay living in the property (in which she owns the other half share) for the rest of her life. When she dies, or if the trust comes to an end sooner, her half share will fall into her estate for her children, but the husband’s share of the property will pass to his children as per the trust created in his Will.

This type of Will would also provide protection for the husband’s half share of the property should his surviving wife have needed to go into care. The husband’s share of the property would not belong to the wife (as it is held in trust), so the wife can only use her own cash and her share of the property to pay for her care.

Similarly, if the wife had remarried, she would only be able to take her own share of the property and her own assets into that new marriage.

Where Can I Get Some Advice?

Families can be complex and often come with a host of issues that need careful thought. When thinking about how and where to leave your estate on your death it is advisable to speak to a legal professional who can explore the options with you and explain any issues that you might not have thought about yourself.

If you would like further advice, please do not hesitate to contact Charlotte Day on 01283 214 231 or c.day@timms-law.com