One of the biggest estate planning challenges for clients with a blended family is balancing looking after the client’s current spouse and the client’s children from previous relationships. This can be even more complicated when there is a family business involved that may be run through a family trust which holds significant assets.
Often clients want to ensure that their spouse is looked after during his or her lifetime and after death that the children of both the client and his/her spouse share equally in the assets of the trust, whilst ensuring that the operation of the family business continues seamlessly. With family trusts (and companies), there is a risk that whoever succeeds to the control of those entities will favour themselves and their family rather than treating everyone equally as the client intended.
de Groots has developed a range of solutions to address these issues which can be tailored to suit the circumstances, objectives and budget of our clients.
Hannah Willis
Associate
