If you are one of the many divorced or widowed residents in New Jersey who has found love again, you may well be excited to move forward and plan your future with a new partner. However, before you jump into a new marriage too quickly, it is important that you carefully evaluate some of the practicalities involved in intermingling your life with another person. This is especially relevant if one or both of you have children from prior relationships.
As explained by Forbes, estate planning can be slightly more complicated for blended families because of the need to find the right tools to properly assign ownership or successorship of assets to the right parties. Without a will or a trust, a surviving spouse might end up with some things that the deceased person wanted to go to their biological children. A solid estate plan is the only way to ensure these wishes are followed.
Couples should have open conversations not only with each other but with their family members as well. This can go a long way toward heading off a conflict between step-siblings or other people due to surprises at a very inopportune and difficult time. These conversations may also help strengthen a blended family and support the new marriage.
If you would like to learn more about how you and your new spouse can protect yourselves, your children and your new marriage’s future, please feel free to visit the blended family asset plans page of our New Jersey estate planning website.