The term “blended families” describes families where the parents have children from different relationships. Blended families create specific challenges because of competing interests which all need to be taken into account in developing an appropriate estate plan. In some cases the couples of a later second marriage with no children of this union would like to benefit the children from their first marriage. In other cases the couples of the later marriage have children of their union and want to ensure that these younger children are protected. There are many scenarios and each situation is different – you need a tailored solution. There are a range of estate planning strategies that can be considered including but not limited to:

• life insurance to increase the gift to certain family members;
• joint tenancies, trusts and binding death nominations;
• contract to make mutual wills;
• testamentary trusts with shared control.