In our current society passing along assets to your family members can be more complicated than it sounds like it should be on the surface. Statistics indicate that somewhere in the vicinity of half of all marriages that take place in the United States ultimately end in divorce. Some 75% of those who get divorced remarry at some point in time, and in most cases one or both of the people involved have children already, so blended families are the result.
When you find yourself in a situation such as this one of the things that you need to consider is how it will impact your children if you were to pass away. There are those who think that prenuptial agreements are kind of cold, a statement of a lack of commitment that of flies in the face of the whole reason why people get married. However, if you look at it pragmatically half of marriages do end in divorce, and none of these people expect to get divorced on their wedding days. This is one reason to consider protecting yourself with a prenuptial agreement.
But addition, if you get remarried and ultimately leave all of your property to your spouse there are no guarantees that he or she would take proper care of your children from previous marriages. They say that verbal agreements are not worth the paper they’re printed on, and you never know what the future holds. Your surviving spouse could get remarried and your resources could dissolve into a new pool and your children’s interests may be placed on the distant back burner if they are even considered at all.
This is just one of the many intricacies that come into play when members of blended families are considering their legacies. To explore the matter further, the best course of action would be to arrange for an initial consultation with an estate planning attorney.
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