Am I missing something? I don’t see much written or talked about the problems of serial marriage and inheritance...not in the Wall Street Journal or Forbes.
In every case that I know of where somebody has been married several times and there are kids involved, there is a serious question of inheritance.
For example, I am the trustee for a friend of mine who remarried and has children by his first wife and his second wife has her own children. He has made no special provision for his kids neither has his first wife who has remarried.
The sample problem comes from a close relative of mine who had children by his first wife (who died). He remarried, a woman from Europe who had a son. When my relative died, his second wife sold the house and took all the possessions, including the family heirlooms, back to Europe to live near her son.
In California, the wife who survives her husband gets all property that is not excluded in a pre-nuptial or a trust.
The children of the first wife, who were quite needy in two cases, got nothing, not even their mother’s possessions. There was nothing a will would have done for these kids.
The same with my friend if he dies before his new wife. Most people don’t think of that and fewer are willing to pay for it. They love their new spouse and trust them to do the right thing.
Again….am I missing some major national discussion of this issue?