What Are the Key Legal Considerations for Blended Families in Miami Estate Planning?

How Can You Plan Your Estate Properly and Effectively?

Proper, effective estate planning protects your properties and assets and ensures that your loved ones have financial security after you have passed away. To plan your estate properly and effectively, you will need the guidance and advice of a Miami estate planning attorney.

However, for blended families in Florida, estate planning may entail some unique considerations and challenges. If you have children from a first marriage and you marry a second time, you will need to protect the interests of your children as well as the interests of your new spouse.

In a blended family, at least one parent has at least one child who is not biologically related to that parent’s spouse. In most ways that matter, a blended family is like any other family, but when one spouse passes away, what happens next can get quite complicated and confusing.

When Should You Begin the Estate Planning Process?

In the State of Florida, preparing the right estate plan is essential for families, business owners, and anyone in this state who owns assets or properties. If you are age 18 or older, now is the time to begin the estate planning process with the help of a Miami estate planning lawyer.

We can’t know what will happen tomorrow, but with good estate planning, you and your family will be ready for whatever the future may hold. However, there is no one-size-fits-all plan. Your estate plan will be unique. Its details will depend on your family and your finances.

Throughout the process of planning your estate, you will be making informed choices which will ensure that your wishes are honored and your instructions are followed at the time of your death or if you should become incapacitated.

Estate planning is imperative for blended families, which are particularly vulnerable to estate and probate challenges. Surviving spouses sometimes disinherit stepchildren, either intentionally or unintentionally. It can happen if you do not take the right steps to protect the children’s assets.

Should You Establish a Revocable Living Trust?

Can you avoid a conflict between what you plan for your children and what your spouse actually does when that time comes? A last will and testament, by itself, is probably not enough, but a revocable living trust will help you provide for both your spouse and your children.

A revocable living trust lets you leave assets to your spouse but ensures that what remains passes to your children upon your spouse’s death. In Florida, the properties and assets that you may transfer into a revocable living trust include but are not limited to your:

1. home and your other real properties
2. vehicles
3. bank accounts, bonds, and certificates of deposit
4. investment and brokerage accounts
5. promissory notes, and
6. business interests

A revocable living trust gives a blended family an extra layer of financial security. A trust-based inheritance is not typically subject to the probate process, so a revocable living trust allows you to make specific, informed decisions about transferring assets to your spouse and children.

What Are Some Other Estate Planning Options?

If your family is a blended family, along with a revocable living trust, you should consider these additional estate planning suggestions:

1. Choose a level-headed and trustworthy trustee for your revocable living trust – someone who can act as a referee between your children and your spouse and make the appropriate financial decisions after you’re gone.
2. You may also consider giving and transferring your assets directly to your children while you are still alive. This way, they will already have their inheritance, and after your death, there will be nothing to dispute.
3. Beneficiary designations let you transfer assets directly to your heirs. Beneficiaries may be designated on bank accounts, life insurance policies, and retirement savings accounts. These assets pass directly to your beneficiary on your death, with no need for probate.
4. When you name someone to make your health care decisions, consider carefully between your spouse and one of your adult children. You should choose someone who will not prevent the other party from having access and information if you become incapacitated.
5. Review your estate plan on a regular basis, at least every three years, and revise it as necessary after any significant changes in your family circumstances or financial circumstances.

What Else Should You Consider?

When you plan an estate for a blended family, avoiding conflict requires a willingness to communicate clearly and to identify the solutions most likely to prevent or resolve disputes. Full legal documentation of your preferences and wishes can also help you avoid conflict.

If you have a blended family in South Florida, having the advice and services of a skilled and experienced Miami estate planning attorney is absolutely essential. Still, the choices you make while planning your estate will be up to you.

How Will an Estate Planning Attorney Assist You?

Your attorney will clearly explain your alternatives and options at each stage of the estate planning process, and your attorney will ensure that your estate plan effectively satisfies your needs and wishes.

But with so many attorneys practicing in the greater Miami area, how can you find the Miami estate planning lawyer who will make your family and your estate planning needs a priority?

Let Perez-Roura Law Help You Plan Your Estate

In South Florida, there is no need to make an extensive search for the right estate planning attorney. Attorney Pedro Armando Perez-Roura will help you prepare – or help you revise – an estate plan that protects your spouse and children and conveys your instructions clearly.

We can’t know the future, but attorney Pedro Armando Perez-Roura can help you and your family fully prepare for whatever tomorrow brings. He is dedicated to helping families in South Florida protect their estates and prepare for life’s most difficult situations.

To learn more about protecting your assets, preparing for the future, and establishing an estate plan for your blended or non-blended family, promptly call the offices of Perez-Roura Law at 305-570-3259 to arrange your initial estate planning consultation with no cost or obligation.