Estate planning is important for all of our private clients, but special considerations need to be borne in mind for those with second marriages and/or step-children. It is often appropriate for spouses to have "mirror" wills (containing very similar terms), but where they each have children from another marriage, there will be different interests at stake and their individual Wills will need to cater for these. If relevant, consideration also needs to be given to pre-empting any possible problems or disputes after death between different sides of the family.
In this article first published in Private Client Adviser (www.privateclientadviser.co.uk) on 20 January 2014 and reproduced here by kind permission, Fay Copeland, partner and Head of the Private client team at Wedlake Bell discusses the specialist issues that can arise in estate planning where there are second marriages and/or step-children, and what clients can do to try and avoid any potential problems.
"Do the right thing" – article for Private Client Adviser by Fay Copeland
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.