When couples marry later in life they may often enter the marriage with children from a prior relationship. This can be particularly prevalent here in Arizona where we have a significant population of retired couples. In the resulting blended families, estate planning involves not only planning for the surviving spouse but also for stepchildren.

An article this morning from USA Today discusses the increasingly common situation of blended families. According to the story, more than 40% of American adults include in their family at least one step-child or step-parent. These families can have some unique financial situations, including income from child-support and multiple savings accounts and residences. Estate planning can be particularly important for these families in order to avoid any unintended consequences.

In more traditional families, some of these issues do not arise because both parents have the same relationship to all of their children. But in a blended family when one parent passes away there may be issues of whether all of the assets should pass directly to the other spouse, or if some other arrangement should be made for the biological children of the deceased spouse.

The article also addresses an estate planning issue beyond the distribution of assets in a blended family. When juvenile children are part of blended family, addressing issues of child custody in the event of the death of one parent can be crucially important.

In the same way that each blended family is unique, there is not one single planning tool that may suit all of their estate planning needs, but open communication resulting in a comprehensive plan can help ensure that the assets are distributed according to each parent's intentions.

Source: USA Today "Blended families require financial planning" Matt Krantz, February 7, 2011