Blended Families and Estate Planning: Navigating the Competing Loyalties of Modern Life
Australia’s rates of relationship breakdown and re-partnering mean that blended family structures — where one or both partners bring children from a prior relationship into a new household — are now a common feature of Australian life. Estate planning in a blended family is one of the most complex and emotionally charged challenges in succession law.
The interests of a new partner and the interests of children from an earlier relationship can be in direct tension, and a poorly considered estate plan can devastate family relationships that survive the grief of bereavement.