While estate planning can be complex for all families, it can be especially challenging for those in other than a first marriage. In addition to considering your spouse and children from your current marriage, both you and your spouse may have children from prior marriages. Ensuring that everyone is treated fairly can be a challenge, but these five steps can help:

1. Sit down with your spouse and discuss both of your desires. Make a list of assets you each brought into the marriage as well as assets obtained after your marriage. Discuss how you want these assets distributed after your death.

How will you treat children from prior marriages? Will you each make your own provisions or will you consider all of the children jointly? Does your divorce decree have provisions that need to be considered in your estate plan? All of these concerns will impact how you distribute your estate. Once you and your spouse reach agreement, your estate planning documents should support these decisions. Keep in mind that, even if you have a will, your spouse can often override the terms and elect to receive a statutory percentage of your estate. To prevent this, you typically need a prenuptial or nuptial agreement, detailing how assets will be divided after death.

2. Determine whether trusts are necessary to protect your children's inheritance. When assets are left outright to your spouse, your spouse controls the ultimate distribution of those assets. You may want to use a qualified terminable interest property trust (commonly referred to as a QTIP trust) to protect your children's interests. Assets you designate are placed in this trust, with income distributed to your spouse during his/her lifetime. Since this qualifies for the unlimited marital deduction, no estate taxes will be paid when you die. After your spouse's death, the

principal is distributed to your heirs.

This strategy may not work if your spouse and children are approximately the same age, since your spouse could outlive your children.

3. Review beneficiary designations and life insurance amounts. It's not unusual to forget to update beneficiary designations for retirement accounts, individual retirement accounts, and life insurance policies. These assets will be distributed to your named beneficiaries, regardless of the terms of your estate planning documents.

Thus, take a look at those designations to ensure they are coordinated with your estate plans. While you're at it, review how much life insurance you have. You may find that you need more life insurance to help ensure that all your heirs are treated equitably.  

4. Check how your property is titled. Jointly owned property automatically passes to the co-owner. You cannot change this distribution through a will.

5. Discuss your plans with your family. Especially in situations where there are step-parents and step-children, you should communicate plans for your estate. You don't want your children to believe your spouse has unduly influenced you or you don't care about them anymore. Being open and upfront about your estate plans will hopefully prevent disagreements and misunderstandings after your death.