| Second spouse concern!…read on:
CLIENT QUESTION:
Lawrence,
My wife and I are on our second marriage, she has 3 kids, and I have 2. My question is, if one of us passes on before the other, how would that person’s children be protected for future inheritance when the second person passes?
MY RESPONSE:
The answer is, if the surviving spouse inherits everything, your kids
should seriously remember her birthday, Mother’s Day, and invite her to Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner! The bottom line is, if you leave
everything outright to the surviving spouse, then he/she can do anything they want with the money, including cutting out your kids. This should be discussed in all second marriages. Sometimes this just works out O.K., but sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes we leave assets for the surviving spouse in a trust, but at the second death, the trust assets revert back to your own children. Sometimes we buy insurance to placate the kids of the first marriage. We have plans to handle this, but it is a real issue and needs to be addressed.
I hope this helps. |
