Blended Family

Blended Family Finances Require Extra Special Care

Published on: January 29, 2020 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

Blended families are almost the new normal in America. A Pew Research Center analysis shows that as many as 40% of all new marriages include at least one person who had been married before. For another comparison, in 1960, 13% of all married adults had been married before, compared to 23% today.

In a blended family, one or both spouses have at least one child from a previous marriage or relationship. Financial and legal challenges are more complicated, as are the family dynamics between parents, step-parents, siblings and step-siblings.

CNBC’s recent article, “4 ways to help blended families navigate finances,” reports that a staggering 63% of women who remarry come into blended families, with 50% of those involving stepchildren who live with the new couple, according to the National Center for Family & Marriage Research.

End of Life Measures Get Complicated with Shared Legal Powers

Published on: April 9, 2019 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

The idea that spouses and their stepchildren will share the legal power to make health care decision sounds good in theory, but, in practice, there may be some unexpected side effects.

Simple things get complicated in blended families. The idea that stepchildren and a spouse will work together to make health care decisions when their parent is ill, seems reasonable. However, what happens when the spouse and stepchildren differ on what is best?

A recent article from the Grand Forks Herald, “Joint power of attorney complicated this couple's wishes,” shares the story of what happened to one woman when her elderly husband was injured and then contracted pneumonia in the nursing home. His wife alerted her adult stepchildren, who rarely visit, and they immediately arrived to help out.

Is Your Estate Plan Working for You?

Published on: December 20, 2018 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

Remember that estate planning is not just for the wealthy, and now that the federal exemption is so high, not just for the billionaires either. Estate planning is also much more than a will.

Your estate plan has a lot of work to do for you, both while you are alive and for your family when you have passed. A good article that explains it all comes from Investopedia, “How to Get Your Estate Plan on Track.” There are three key objectives that your estate plan needs to do:

End-of-life health care decisions are documented in a legally binding document;

Planning For Your Own “Brady Bunch” in Houston

Published on: December 6, 2013 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

When Carol and Mike Brady got together on the classic TV show "The Brady Bunch," there wasn't a lot of discussion about how the couple would handle things like updating their life insurance policies to reflect their new, blended family, or covering the cost of things like braces and college tuition for their six kids.

Blended families, however loving, oftentimes have more than a few things to address when it comes to financial and estate planning. The modern day "Brady Bunch" brings about many planning obstacles.

Indeed, the challenges faced by the blended family are frequently discussed in professional financial and legal circles. In part, this is because blended families are the new normal. If your family is “blended,” then it is only prudent to consider any tips regarding common challenges you may face.