FAMILY · 6 MIN READ
Second marriages and the children from the first
Blended families produce the estate disputes we see most often — and the ones most easily prevented.
The pattern is consistent enough to be predictable. Two people remarry in their fifties or sixties, each with adult children and a house. Both intend that their own children will eventually inherit their own assets. Neither writes any of it down, or they write half of it down in wills that contradict what the property titles say.
One dies. The survivor owns the house outright by right of survivorship, because it was held jointly. The deceased's children inherit a share of an estate that no longer contains the main asset. Everyone is furious, and everyone is behaving reasonably given what they were told.
Three documents prevent almost all of this, and they have to agree with each other. A marriage contract that sets out what each party brought and what happens to it. Mirror wills that reflect that contract. And — the step most often missed — property titles and beneficiary designations that match both.
The titling point deserves emphasis. Joint tenancy passes outside the will entirely. If your will leaves your half of the house to your children but the house is held jointly with your spouse, your will does not get a say. The same is true of RRSPs, TFSAs and life insurance with a named beneficiary.
Where the intention is that a surviving spouse can live in the home for life but the children ultimately receive it, that is a life interest or a spousal trust, and it needs drafting. It cannot be achieved by hoping everyone behaves well.
None of this is expensive relative to the litigation it avoids. What it costs is one uncomfortable conversation, held while everybody is alive and able to have it.
This is general information about Ontario law, not advice about your situation, and reading it does not make you our client. If any of it sounds like your circumstances, book a consultation and get an answer that accounts for the facts.