Estate Planning Guidance for Blended Families in Maryland

Introduction: Blended Families Present Specific Issues

More and more, blended families – that is, families involving stepparents, stepchildren and, in some cases, half siblings – are becoming a common feature of society. Blended families have increased in tandem with the higher frequency of divorce and the likelihood of remarriage. In many ways, blended families are symbolic of the power of resiliency, healing, and interpersonal harmony; these families face unique issues, and there are plenty of challenges, and so successful blended families demonstrate a suite of powerful attributes. In addition, blended families present special issues when it comes to estate planning, as parents need to contemplate the fate of assets with reference to both natural children and stepchildren.

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In this post, we will give some basic estate planning guidance to parents in blended families. These tips aren’t exhaustive by any means, but should provide a decent starting point when it comes to estate planning in this kind of situation.

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The Usefulness of Trusts

Parents in blended families will find trusts to be highly useful for estate planning purposes. As we have discussed in the past, trusts are instruments which hold and distribute assets for specific, designated beneficiaries. The trust creator develops the trust, puts assets into the trusts, selects an individual to manage the trust (i.e. the “trustee”), and then identifies a beneficiary or beneficiaries. Trusts confer numerous advantages in an estate planning context. For one, trusts give a level of control to the trust creator, as the creator can predetermine the flow of assets to beneficiaries, predetermine how assets are used, and so forth. Furthermore, trust assets avoid the probate process altogether, and so trust assets will transfer directly over to beneficiaries when the trust creator passes away. This bypasses considerable hassle, bureaucracy and potential headache.

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For blended families, trusts enable parents to divide assets in a discreet and reliable manner, as they can privately determine how assets will be distributed and avoid the probate process entirely. This might be the single most useful tool for parents in blended families.

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The Importance of a Well Drafted Will

In addition to trusts, wills are also highly important for estate planning for parents in blended families. Wills are formal, notarized documents which provide detailed instructions on the distribution of assets and burial preferences. Although wills are admitted into the probate process, as long as things are drafted clearly the terms of the will should be honored to the letter. The main benefit of a will is that a will avoids Maryland’s “intestacy” laws. Intestacy laws are essentially the default rules for distribution of assets in the event that a person passes away without a will. So, by drafting a will, the creator is avoiding the default rules and exercising a level of control over how assets should be distributed.

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For parents in blended families, wills allow for the discreet and reliable distribution of assets to beneficiaries. Wills are detailed documents, and creators have an opportunity to identify all family members and clarify precisely how assets are to be divided. One of the concerns of blended families is that there may be challenges to wills deriving from confusion over identity, but a well drafted will can sufficiently clarify identities to avoid this type of challenge. Will creators can specify with near 100% certainty the identity of all persons named in the document; as much detail as is needed can be provided, so the possibility of a challenge becomes quite minimal. Again, the will still needs to be admitted to probate, but a will is nearly always far superior compared to the default rules.

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Contact the Murphy Law Firm for Additional Resources

Readers who want to know more about estate planning in general, estate planning guidance for blended families, wills and trusts specifically, or any other related topic, contact one of the estate planning attorneys at the Murphy Law Firm today by calling 240-222-1187.

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