Interesting questions arise when the children of a previous relationship are not officially adopted by their new step-parent. If the step-parent passes without a Will, then these new children will not have the right to inherit.
This example comes up often when a biological parent dies and gives all her estate to her spouse, often hoping that the new spouse will use this money to “take care” of her children.
However, as often happens, the step-parent spouse dies without a Will. The step-parent’s estate, unfortunately, will skip the stepchildren entirely.
The good news is that estate planning tools are available:
Oregon trusts. (You can leave your assets in trust for your spouse’s lifetime and at his/her death to your own children. Sometimes spouses will contract to “freeze” the plan so that it won’t later be changed.)
Designate beneficiaries on your life insurance policies and retirement assets.
Keep your assets separate, provide nothing for each other, and instead have your own children inherit your entire estate on your death.
And at a minimum, draft a Will (a simple approach is to leave everything to the surviving spouse and on the second death to the children of both spouses).
There are also many other possibilities in between.
If you are in a blended family, this is a conversation worth having while everyone is alive and share common estate planning goals.