It could be beneficial to request the services of an attorney familiar with the implementation of a blended-family estate to assist in ensuring the details of estate planning are conducted smoothly.

With almost all step families, one spouse or the other will bring a child or children with them, creating a blended family. While this is an exciting, fulfilling and rarely dull prospect to a second marriage, it can at times present special challenges when it comes to estate planning.

It is important to identify goals and concerns, discuss matters with your spouse, plan for all children involved, organize estate and gift taxes, choose executors, trustees and guardians, and work with lawyers, financial planners and other experts to ensure that right choices are prepared for the entire family.

Sure, providing for everyone you love can get tricky. It's the ultimate juggling act and relying on your spouse and children to work it out shouldn't be part of the plan. Estate planning needs to fit you and your situation and without one, you have no way of ensuring that what you want to happen will happen.

In harsh reality, it is important to decide on some important matters which include, designating a trustee to manage the affairs of your estate if your new spouse isn't to be your trustee, removing the possibility for the new spouse to change the beneficiaries and disinherit your children, identify specific assets that you want to go to your children (including personal effects, vehicles, real estate and jewelry), make proper arrangements for the proceeds of your retirement account.

It could be beneficial to request the services of an attorney familiar with the implementation of a blended-family estate to assist in ensuring the details of estate planning are conducted smoothly.

Read more:

http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/estate-planning-blended-family-29665.html

http://www.ehow.com/how_2075670_estate-plan-blended-families.html