Stepchildren and Estates

Divorce is never a good situation, but sometimes remarriage can also be riddled with sticky situations, especially when it comes to your estate and especially when children are involved.

Often divorce decrees have life insurance stipulations for the minor children involved. For example, a parting couple might agree that the husband maintain a $200,000 life insurance policy naming the children as the beneficiaries. If the husband does not actually list his children as the beneficiaries, but instead lists his new wife as the beneficiary, the new wife may feel entitled to get this money upon her husband’s death, essentially leaving her stepchildren out of the picture.

However, the truth is that life insurance is not considered part of your estate and the divorce decree would still stand. It would be the husband’s responsibility to maintain the proper life insurance policy; failure to do so might hold him in contempt of court and his children could sue his estate for the $200,000.

Establishing a will along with a comprehensive estate plan that plainly outlines your wishes can help to alleviate some of these problems, but life insurance policies often honor the divorce decree regardless of what the will states.

At The Brown Law Firm LLC, we can help you develop a will in Denver that will help you protect your estate and provide for your family in the manner you desire. Contact us today to start the process of putting down on “paper” your clear wishes.