Blended Family Inheritance: Who Gets What Without a Will

Why blended families are different

Intestacy rules assume a simple family. When a person leaves a spouse and children from a previous relationship, the law has to choose between them — and it usually chooses by formula, not by what you would have wanted.

United States (Uniform Probate Code pattern)

• All the decedent’s children are also the spouse’s: the spouse takes everything.
• The decedent has children who are not the spouse’s: the spouse takes the first $150,000 plus half of the rest; those children share the remainder.
• The spouse has other children of their own: the spouse takes the first $225,000 plus half of the rest.

A US example

An estate of $1,000,000 with a surviving spouse, one child of the couple and one child from an earlier relationship: the spouse takes $575,000 and the two children share $425,000. States differ, and several use other figures, so this is an illustration of the pattern.

England and Wales

A spouse takes the first £322,000 of the estate plus half of the remainder; the children share the other half. On £522,000 with a spouse and two children, the spouse takes £422,000 and the children share £100,000. Stepchildren are not heirs on intestacy.

How to protect everyone

• Make a will after every marriage, birth or separation — some places revoke a will when you marry
• Consider a trust so the spouse can live in the home while children inherit later
• Check pensions, life insurance and jointly owned property: they often pass outside the will
• Talk to the people involved before they find out from a lawyer