If you are preparing to get married and you have children and grandchildren from a previous relationship, you will want to have open discussions with your new partner about how you want to prepare your estate plan. It is common for people to want to leave a legacy in the form of some inheritance to their kids and other relatives. At the same time, it is normal for a person to want to ensure that their spouse is well cared for financially after they die. Achieving both of these objectives in a blended family requires some careful choices about estate planning vehicles.
Forbes explains that a qualified terminable interest property trust offers many unique features, some of which may be quite useful for remarried spouses with children of their own. Commonly referred to as a QTIP trust, this tool allows you the opportunity to ensure that if you die before your spouse, they will receive a regular income after your death. At the same time, the QTIP may be setup to preserve the principal of the trust assets to be passed on to your other heirs after your surviving spouse dies.
The QTIP trust prevents a surviving spouse from changing the plans and intentions of their deceased partner after death, protecting the inheritance of the fist spouse’s children without sacrificing lifestyle or care for the spouse second to die.
If you would like to learn more about the options available to you and your spouse when creating an estate plan to accommodate the needs of your newly blended family, please feel free to visit the remarried spouse’s planning page of our Florida estate planning website.