Customer Reviews

Estate Planning for Blended Families: Providing for Your Spouse & Children in a Second Marriage

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If this book were simply about the various estate planning options available, it would be undistinguishable from any of several other well-written books on the subject. The true strength of the book for me was the moral compass and genuine kindness that the authors encourage as they explain the various factors to consider in developing a plan. If you're looking for "10 ways to screw the ex-wife" or "How to leave your step-father homeless after mom dies," then this book is not for you. This book advocates for doing the right thing by all family members, which does not always mean even-stevens. With this purpose in mind, various scenarios and alternatives are examined. By the end of the book, I had a much better idea of how to approach our own estate planning and feel much more confident about how to direct our attorney in drawing up the papers.

I am a professional financial planner with over two decades of experience. It is with this background that I tell you that I love, love, love this book! It should be on the bookshelf of every financial planner, and read by anyone entering a second marriage where there are children from prior marriages.

How could one book be appropriate for both the novice and the professional?
* For the Novice: The books concepts are presented in English, not "legaleeze"; that will let the you develop some understanding of the blended family estate planning issues; let you think things through and talk things over before contacting a lawyer.
* For the Professional: This book is really well done. If you haven't studied estate planning issues in a professional program such as the CFP® (Certified Financial Planner), then this will be a great help to you. If you are already a CFP® ,(or other qualified professional) then this will be a quick up-to-date reference for you. Nola indicates that there are "Free legal updates at Nolo.com"

To give you an idea why I am so positive on this book... page 212 has the simplest tip that will save your heirs the frustration and agony of dealing with indifferent professional trustees and could save them thousands or tens of thousands of dollars in fee. It tells you that your trust documents should have a way to replace the trustee. It has been my professional experience that trustees work harder if they can be replaced. Additionally it is possible to negotiate fees if the banks/trust company needs to compete for your business. In all the years that I have been working as a planner, I have only seen 1 law firm produce such documents without a specific request of the client. Why is that? I can only speculate. But, law firms and banks/trust companies often refer clients back and forth. No money changes hands directly, but the fees earned indirectly can be staggering.

Don't expect that a single book is a substitute for a qualified estate lawyer. Wills, trusts and other estate planning tools in the opinion of this writer need to executed by qualified attorney licensed as such in the state in which you are domiciled. While almost any licensed attorney can do a will, whether or not that attorney is "qualified" to handle the sophisticated level of estate planning required by many blended families is another matter. This book should help you discern whether or not you have found the right professional for you.

Also, each state has its own peculiarities when it comes to estate planning. Some are community property states; some not. Some states are incredibly expensive when it comes to probate; in others probate is so easy and inexpensive to go through probate that probate avoidance can easily cost you more than the probate process. No single book can address all the state specific issues.

Estate Planning for Blended Families is not a substitute for highly trained qualified professionals. But it will allow the client to be much more engaged in the process, increasing the odds of a successful outcome. I highly recommend this book.

This book is a great resource for blended families. You know, families with half-siblings, step-siblings, step-parents, and the financial things you need to do to safeguard all of them. This book is very specific in some areas, so it might not apply to everyone in a blended family. The book is organized fairly well but I still had some problems reading through it to find what applied to our family. I pick up a book like this to read through and see something that I might have forgotten to plan for, but I gave up halfway through reading it like an informative book and instead have decided to use it for reference. So it was different than I expected, but still useful!

Richard Barnes has done the estate planning profession a favor and written a book that was sorely needed. The book, which is a quick and easy read, and well written, is aimed at the layman, as it should have been. However, as one who has been around estate planning for over twenty years, I have particularly enjoyed the timeless estate planning wisdom that it imparts. For example, the section about talking things out is very well done.

The book is as much an introduction to estate planning as it is about estate planning for blended families, but that is okay because the estate planning information and wisdom is very good too. I particularly enjoyed the chapter on May-December romances as well as the sample model estate plans.

All in all, this is a tremendous first edition that is likely to be expanded in the future. I'm glad that I pre-ordered it.

This book nicely answered all my questions in clear, easy to understand terms. Estate planning is critically important to everyone, so it is hard to say it could be any *more* important for blended families. I do think, however, that the anguish from having done inadequate planning *is* worse for blended families, and that alone makes this book worth consulting for anyone who is part of such a family.

The good - Nolo is the best publisher of legal books for laypeople. No, really. They put out some great books. This book is no different. The appendices are very concrete and have questionaires and sample estate plans. That makes some of estate planning legalese (which is explained away pretty well by Barnes) make much more sense.

The bad - There is a lot of good legal advice in here, but not very much is particularly different than the usual advice given for non-blended families from the other Nolo book, which I believe is by the same author. I was actually expecting a bit more. In particular they only include one generation.

I was curious how blended 2nd and 3rd generations or people with multiple ex-wives deal with inheritance. I suppose that might be a bit too technical for a book like this. Still, I think this could've gone deeper - it seems like the blended topic was an afterthought. All in all, a good book though if you're just dealing with a second husband or wife, which is, I'd imagine, the most common scenario.

Highly recommended provided you have a fairly simple blended family or an interest in them, which is probably what 95% of people viewing this title are probably looking for. If your interests are more esoteric, look elsewhere.

On an aside, I love the size and weight of the book. Not a huge bulky book like so many of these.

For those who come from blended families or are raising a blended family, I hope you even get to this point, planning and dividing the estate. Much of what I have read about blended families is not good. To me, it seems like a disaster waiting to happen and by the time the estate gets divided, the issues are too broad for it to flow easily.

I never came from a blended family and swore my children would never get into a blended family.

So, the cover picture of the happily blended family seems a little coerced or fake. But, if one does need to prepare the funds for dispersion after your death, all avenues need to be look at, and this book is an outstanding guide!!

Everything you ever needed to know about planning the estate, dividing it fairly or unfairly, whichever you choose is here! If this 356 page book isn't enough, a series of resources are available, many online. Available are questionnaires, tips, case studies, do's and don'ts. The formatting of the pages is done very good, easy to read, boxed in information easy to access, and nice bold headline fonts. Plus, there is an extensive index. PLUS, you can visit [...] for more!

The NOLO series is an excellent collection of important books to help you through almost any legalities, finance plannings, wills, etc. These books are powerful.
Easy Ways to Lower Your Taxes: Simple Strategies Every Taxpayer Should Know (USA Today/Nolo Series)
Nolo's Essential Guide to Divorce
Nolo's Encyclopedia of Everyday Law: Answers to Your Most Frequently Asked Legal Questions
Busy Family's Guide to Money (USA TODAY/Nolo Series)
Quicken Willmaker Plus 2009 Edition: Estate Planning Essentials (Book with Software).......Rizzo

This guide to estate planning for couples is aimed at people in their second or third (or whatever) marriage, or any person in a marriage who has a child that is not the offspring of their spouse. Information is clearly presented in a modified outline that is not as dull as the common textbook. Of course, it is not as interesting as a novel either, so you have to be motivated in order to work your way through it.

Considerable space is devoted to the importance of estate planning, probably more space than necessary since the reader would not open the book if they did not already feel that planning was needed. Fortunately there are examples of family situations that provide interest as well as information.

As the baby boomer generation ages, this sort of guide deserves a large audience. We all need to think about what happens to our property when we die, and being part of a blended family makes this even more important. On the other hand, property laws vary from state to state so you will want a qualified attorney after you have decided who you want to provide for. Since you probably don't want to pay your attorney to sit by while you argue details with your spouse, read this book and do your homework. And do it soon -- you can always change your estate plan later if circumstances change.

Most of these NOLO titles are excellent reference books on their respective topics. They are written by subject matter experts and are well edited. This book lives up to the tradition. Full of usable and practical advice, anyone with an interest in estate planning for themselves, their families, or as a professional will find this book very helpful, and more likely, indispensible. Highly recommended. It's definitely a niche market, but if you could possibly benefit from information on this topic, buy this book!

Richard Barnes does American families a great service with this book. With so many families being blended most of us realize that dividing our estates properly is going to be difficult. How does the older parent insure that if they pass first, both their new family and the children from previous marriages will be treated fairly? How do you insure the surviving spouse who has problemic relatinships with your children doesn't cut them out of the distribution of the estate? Many of us don't even know the questions to ask, because estate planning is a foreign language that deep inside we really don't want to learn.

Barnes book will help the reader to identify the issues and questions that could lead to problems in ensuring that our wishes are carried out. He helps families negotiate the questions so that this most difficult time isn't a time of anger and bitterness.

This book is extremely helpful for the novice/layman as they plan their wills. Highly recommend