Blended families and fairness:
planning with second marriages

Why blended families need to think harder

Blended families - where one or both partners bring children from a previous relationship - are one of the most common family structures in England today. They are also the family structure most likely to be let down by standard estate planning.

The reason is simple. Most couples, when they make Wills, write mirror Wills: each leaves everything to the other, and then to the children. In an uncomplicated first-marriage family with shared children, this works well enough. In a blended family, it creates a serious problem.

The problem with mirror Wills in second marriages

Imagine a couple - Mark and Sarah. Mark has two children from his first marriage. Sarah has none. They write mirror Wills, leaving everything to each other and then to "our children." Mark dies first. Sarah inherits everything. So far, so straightforward.

But Sarah is now a widow in her fifties with a substantial estate. Several years later she remarries. Under English law, remarriage automatically revokes a Will. Sarah's new husband, having made a new Will together with Sarah, now inherits her estate - including everything that originally came from Mark. Mark's children from his first marriage receive nothing.

This outcome is not the result of bad intentions. It is the predictable consequence of planning that did not account for what happens next. The children were never protected. They were simply assumed to be.

Life Interest Trusts: the solution

A Life Interest Trust - sometimes called an Interest in Possession Trust - allows you to provide for your surviving spouse while ring-fencing your share of the estate for your own children.

In practical terms, it works like this. When you die, your share of the estate does not pass outright to your spouse. Instead, it is held in a trust. Your spouse has the right to benefit from it during their lifetime - to live in the property, to receive income from investments - but they cannot spend the capital or change who ultimately inherits it. When they die, the trust assets pass to your chosen beneficiaries: typically, your children.

A Life Interest Trust is not the answer for every blended family, and it does involve trustee duties and some administration. The right structure depends on the property ownership, family relationships, tax position and what each partner needs for security.

Severing joint tenancy

A Life Interest Trust only works if you actually own a share of your property to put into it. Many couples own their home as joint tenants - meaning the property passes automatically to the survivor on death, bypassing the Will entirely.

To use a Life Interest Trust, you must first sever the joint tenancy and convert to tenants in common. This gives each of you a defined share - typically 50/50 - which can then be dealt with separately in your respective Wills. Severing a joint tenancy is a straightforward legal step, but it is one that must be taken deliberately. It does not happen by default.

Having the honest conversation

The mechanics of Life Interest Trusts are well understood. The harder part, for many couples, is having the conversation that makes them necessary.

Discussing what happens to your children from a previous relationship - in the event of your death and your spouse's subsequent remarriage - requires a level of candour that some couples find uncomfortable. It can feel like expressing distrust in a partner you love. It is not. It is acknowledging reality: that people are widowed, that people remarry, and that good intentions are not a substitute for legal protection.

Most couples, when they work through the scenario honestly, find that a Life Interest Trust reflects what both of them actually want. The surviving spouse does not want to inadvertently disinherit their stepchildren. The deceased partner's children do not want to be left dependent on goodwill. A well-structured trust serves everyone's genuine interests.

Stepchildren and inheritance: the legal position

It bears repeating clearly: under English law, a stepchild has no automatic entitlement to inherit from a step-parent. The intestacy rules - which govern what happens when someone dies without a Will - do not recognise them. Even with a Will, they only inherit if explicitly named as beneficiaries.

This means that in a blended family, every child you wish to protect must be specifically provided for. Relying on a surviving spouse to "do the right thing" is not a plan. It is an assumption - and assumptions do not hold up in probate.

The importance of annual review

Blended families are particularly susceptible to planning that becomes outdated. New children, changing relationships, the death of a former spouse, a child reaching adulthood, a significant change in assets - any of these can alter the picture materially.

Wills written for a blended family at one stage of life may be entirely inadequate a few years later. An annual review is not a formality in these cases - it is the mechanism by which your planning stays aligned with your actual family and your actual wishes. Prime Wills includes this as standard for every client.