How Can You Protect Children if You Are in a 2nd Marriage or Are Concerned About a Second Marriage After Your Death?

A second marriage can be a joyful new chapter in life, but it brings unique estate‑planning challenges, especially when you have children from prior relationships. Blended families often involve competing priorities, unwritten expectations, and the risk of unintentionally disinheriting someone you care about. Fortunately, thoughtful estate planning can help prevent conflict and ensure your wishes are carried out.

The Core Challenge: Two Goals That Can Seem in Conflict

When planning your estate in a second marriage, you may face two important—and sometimes competing—goals:

• Providing for your spouse if you pass away first. Most people in blended families want to ensure their spouse is financially secure, able to maintain their lifestyle, and protected after they are gone.

• Ensuring your children ultimately receive your share of the estate. You may also want to make sure that some (or all) of your assets eventually pass to your children—not only to stepchildren or your spouse’s family.

The problem? If you leave everything outright to your spouse, nothing stops your spouse from later leaving all those assets to their own children or other beneficiaries. This “winner takes all” outcome is very common in blended families and is a major source of lawsuits, family estrangement, and costly disputes.

The Solution. A Testamentary Trust (Family Trust / Credit Shelter Trust / A/B Trust), the most effective tool for navigating these competing interests is the testamentary trust—also known as a Family Trust, Credit Shelter Trust, or A/B Trust. These names are often used interchangeably, but the purpose is the same.

How a Testamentary Trust Protects Your Family

Instead of leaving your assets outright to your spouse, your Will or Living Trust directs that your share of the estate be placed into a Testamentary Irrevocable Trust for your spouse’s benefit. Here’s how it works:

• Your spouse is supported. Your spouse may access income (typically distributed at least annually) and, if needed, principal for maintenance, education, support, and health. This ensures your spouse is cared for throughout his or her lifetime. 

• Your children have oversight. Washington law requires the trustee to follow specific fiduciary duties. Due to this law, your children (or someone you designate) can monitor the trust to ensure that:

  • assets are not wasted,

  • distributions follow the trust rules, and

  • the surviving spouse cannot divert the assets to someone else.

• Your children inherit what remains. When your spouse passes away, the remaining trust assets go to your children or other beneficiaries you designate—not to a new spouse, stepchildren, or creditors.

This structure avoids the “all or nothing” problem of outright distributions and ensures your children ultimately receive your intended gift. While this tool is especially beneficial for blended families, any family can use a testamentary trust to help ensure assets are preserved for children when one parent dies. It’s not just for blended families, even in non-blended families, a testamentary trust can prevent issues such as:

• A surviving parent remarrying and unintentionally disinheriting the children;

• Children receiving assets too young or too quickly; and

• Assets being exposed to creditors or bad decisions.

Because of these benefits, testamentary trusts are widely recommended for families who value asset protection, predictable inheritance, and long‑term planning.

If you want to learn more, please call Rehberg Law Group at 206.246.8772 to schedule an appointment.