Blended Family Estate Planning Attorney

Why a Blended Family Needs Its Own Estate Plan

Estate planning for a blended family involves balancing obligations to more than one household. A surviving spouse may need income and a place to live, children from a first marriage expect to inherit from their parent, and stepchildren may have been raised as your own without ever being legally adopted. The law does not weigh these relationships the way most families do, so the plan has to state your intentions clearly and in enforceable terms. I cover the legal background in more detail in my article on why blended families in New York need customized estate planning.

New York's Default Rules Do Not Include Stepchildren

If you die without a will, EPTL 4-1.1 divides your estate between your surviving spouse and your own children. A stepchild who was never adopted receives nothing under those rules, regardless of how long you raised that child. The same issue appears in wills that leave property to "my children" as a group, since that phrase is generally read to exclude stepchildren. Our office names each child and stepchild individually in your documents, and you can read more about how New York's default inheritance rules treat stepchildren in blended families.

Your Spouse Has a Right of Election

Under EPTL 5-1.1-A, a surviving spouse can claim an elective share of your estate even if your will leaves that spouse less. The elective share is calculated on the net estate and also reaches certain assets that pass outside the will, such as jointly held accounts and assets in a revocable trust. A spouse can waive this right, but only through a written agreement that is signed and acknowledged. A plan that leaves everything to your children without addressing the elective share often leads to a proceeding in Surrogate's Court, which is one reason I explain the share a surviving spouse in a blended family cannot be written out of at the start of every engagement.

Beneficiary Designations Control Many Assets

Life insurance, retirement accounts, annuities, and transfer-on-death accounts pass to the named beneficiary and are not governed by your will. EPTL 5-1.4 generally revokes a designation in favor of a former spouse after a divorce, but some employer-sponsored retirement plans are governed by federal law, which can still pay a former spouse who remains named on the plan. We review every designation you hold and coordinate each one with the rest of your plan.

Our Blended Family Estate Planning Services

• Wills that name each child and stepchild, appoint an executor suited to your family, and designate guardians for minor children.
• Revocable and irrevocable trusts that provide for a surviving spouse during that spouse's lifetime and pass the remaining assets to your children.
• Marital trusts, including QTIP trusts where appropriate, that coordinate support for a spouse with estate tax planning.
• Right of election waivers prepared within prenuptial or postnuptial agreements, drafted to meet New York's execution requirements.
• Beneficiary designation reviews for life insurance, retirement accounts, and transfer-on-death accounts.
• Health care proxies and powers of attorney that name agents your spouse and your children can both rely on.
• Life insurance planning to create a separate inheritance for children from a prior relationship.

How We Help

1. Review your family and your assets. We identify each spouse, child, stepchild, and former spouse, along with obligations from a prior marriage such as a divorce settlement or a child support order.
2. Collect your existing documents. We gather your current will, trust, deeds, beneficiary designations, and any prenuptial agreement or divorce judgment.
3. Explain your options. I walk you through the effect of the intestacy rules, the right of election, and non-probate transfers on your particular family.
4. Design the plan. We recommend the combination of wills, trusts, agreements, and designations that carries out your goals for your spouse and each child.
5. Draft and supervise signing. We prepare the documents and supervise their execution so they meet New York's formal requirements.
6. Fund and coordinate. We help retitle assets into any trust and update beneficiary forms so every asset moves according to the plan.

Leaving Assets Outright or Through a Trust

Many remarried clients first consider leaving everything outright to the surviving spouse with the expectation that the spouse will later pass the remainder to the children. Once assets transfer outright, the surviving spouse owns them and may change the plan, remarry, or leave the assets to other beneficiaries, and the children have no enforceable claim. A trust gives the surviving spouse income, or the right to remain in the home, for that spouse's lifetime, and then directs what remains to the children you name. I also discuss trusts that provide for a spouse and preserve the children's inheritance in my related article.

The choice of trustee matters as much as the trust terms. Naming the surviving spouse as sole trustee of a trust meant to protect children from a first marriage places one person on both sides of the arrangement. A co-trustee or an independent trustee usually keeps the administration balanced.

Frequently Asked Questions

Speak With a Blended Family Estate Planning Attorney

My office prepares estate plans for blended families throughout New York. We will review your current documents and your family's needs during a free phone consultation.

Law Offices of Roman Aminov

147-17 Union Turnpike
Flushing, NY 11367
Phone: (347) 766-2685
Fax: (347) 474-7344