Estate planning after remarriage brings one of the hardest challenges families face: how to take care of your spouse without accidentally cutting your children out of their inheritance.
You might trust your spouse completely — but life changes. People remarry, update wills, or unintentionally leave everything to their new partner’s family. That’s why estate planning for blended families in Georgia focuses on protecting both your spouse and your children through structure, not sentiment.
In Georgia, the best way to achieve that balance is by using a Qualified Terminable Interest Property (QTIP) Trust inside a revocable living trust. Together, they provide lifetime support for your spouse while ensuring your children inherit exactly what you intended.
How Georgia Blended Families Protect Everyone They Love—Without Losing Control
Want to see exactly how Georgia families protect both their spouse and their kids from being accidentally disinherited? Watch the video below to learn the legal strategy we use for blended families that locks in everyone’s inheritance.
Risks of Not Having Estate Planning for Blended Families in Georgia
The Core Conflict in Second Marriages
When you’re in a second marriage or have a blended family, you face two competing priorities:
- You want your spouse to be financially secure.
- You also want your children from a prior relationship to receive their inheritance.
Without a plan, Georgia’s intestacy law (OCGA §53-2-1) automatically splits your estate between your spouse and children. This can cause shared ownership, forced sales, and family conflict.
And if you leave everything outright to your spouse, nothing stops them from later changing their estate plan or adding a new spouse.
That’s why estate planning for second marriages requires structure, not just trust. A revocable living trust in Georgia defines who receives what — and when — while avoiding probate.
The Real Risks: How Remarriage Can Disinherit Children
Unintentional Disinheritance
Many parents believe a simple will is enough. But if your spouse inherits everything and never updates their own will, your children can be completely disinherited under Georgia’s intestacy laws.
A revocable living trust ensures your inheritance plan is locked in and avoids probate delays. Learn more in how does a revocable trust avoid probate in Georgia.
Remarriage and New Spouses
Once your spouse remarries, inherited assets can become marital property. That means your savings might one day support a new partner or their children.
A QTIP trust prevents that by giving your spouse income for life but no control over the principal. It’s the most effective way to protect your children from a second marriage while still showing care for your spouse.
Financial Exploitation and Poor Advice
Older surviving spouses can be targets for manipulation or scams. A properly structured irrevocable trust in Georgia adds an independent trustee who manages the assets and protects your spouse from undue influence and poor financial advice.
Why Basic Estate Planning Fails Under Georgia Law
What happens without estate planning for blended families?
Georgia’s Default Inheritance Rules (OCGA §53-2-1)
If you die without a will or trust, Georgia divides your estate between your spouse and children. The spouse must receive at least one-third, but the rest is divided among the children — even if they’re from a prior marriage. This often leads to disputes or court-ordered sales of family property.
Weak Spousal Rights
Georgia’s inheritance laws are weaker than in most states. A surviving spouse can be disinherited and must petition for “Year’s Support,” which only covers short-term living costs.
That’s why families turn to a revocable living trust — a structure that provides full control during life and converts into protective sub-trusts (like a QTIP trust) at death.
See how much a revocable living trust costs in Georgia for a detailed breakdown of setup and funding.
Why Life Estate Deeds Aren’t Enough
Life estate deeds are sometimes used to let a surviving spouse live in a home until death. But they come with serious drawbacks:
- The spouse can’t refinance, sell, or borrow against the home.
- The property may not be protected from creditors.
- The children have no protection if the spouse fails to maintain taxes or insurance.
- Medicaid Penalty Risk: If the surviving spouse later enters long-term care, transferring the future ownership interest to the children (the remaindermen) can trigger the five-year Medicaid lookback period, potentially jeopardizing eligibility for nursing home benefits.
A QTIP trust, funded through your revocable trust, avoids these risks while providing income, flexibility, and legal protection.
How a Revocable Living Trust Protects Blended Families
A revocable living trust lets you manage your assets while you’re alive and avoid probate after death. When you pass, it becomes irrevocable and automatically divides into sub-trusts:
- Marital (QTIP) Trust – Provides lifetime income for your spouse and qualifies for the federal marital deduction (deferring estate tax).
- Family or Bypass Trust – Protects assets up to the federal exemption limit, preserving them for your children.
Learn more about structuring these in how to set up a trust in Georgia and revocable vs. irrevocable trusts in Georgia.
The QTIP Trust: The Key to Protecting Kids After Remarriage
A QTIP trust is the centerpiece of second-marriage inheritance planning. It gives your spouse financial support while keeping control of your legacy in your hands.
Here’s how it works:
- Your spouse receives all income from the trust for life.
- They cannot sell, gift, or change who inherits the principal.
- After their death, the remaining assets go to your children.
This qualifies for the unlimited marital deduction, meaning no estate tax when you die, while locking the remainder for your heirs.
The trade-off: To receive this tax benefit, the IRS requires all income generated by the trust to be distributed annually to your spouse. This guarantees their support but creates a built-in tension between income and growth.
After your death, your executor (or trustee) makes a QTIP election on the estate tax return (Form 706). Once filed, it’s irrevocable — ensuring your plan cannot be changed.
Learn more about these mechanics in private revocable trusts in Georgia.
Balancing Spouse Support and Children’s Inheritance
The QTIP structure creates an inherent tension between income (for the spouse) and principal (for the children).
This mandatory income rule is the source of the QTIP’s structural conflict. Since the trustee is legally compelled by IRS rules to generate and distribute all income to the spouse, they may face pressure to favor high-yield, low-growth investments — which can erode the principal meant for your children. That’s why appointing a neutral professional trustee is non-negotiable.
A professional fiduciary must manage the delicate balance between short-term income needs and long-term capital preservation — ensuring fairness and compliance with Georgia’s trust accounting laws.
Key Legal Protections Built Into Georgia Trusts
What makes trusts great for estate planning for blended families?
The HEMS Standard
Your trustee can distribute principal only for your spouse’s Health, Education, Maintenance, and Support (HEMS). This keeps flexibility for emergencies without letting the spouse withdraw large sums or expose assets to creditors.
See more in incapacity planning with a Georgia revocable living trust.
Spendthrift and Anti-Commingling Clauses
A spendthrift clause prevents beneficiaries from assigning or borrowing against future distributions. While the clause fully shields the trust principal from most creditors, certain high-priority legal obligations — such as court-ordered alimony or child support — may allow a Georgia court to issue orders against the mandatory income distributions payable to the surviving spouse.
An anti-commingling rule prevents trust assets from being mixed with marital property — crucial if your spouse remarries or faces divorce.
For related protection strategies, see LLCs in Georgia and how they complement trusts.
Working With the Right Fiduciaries
When a spouse acts as both trustee and beneficiary, conflicts of interest are almost inevitable. A professional trustee — a CPA, lawyer, or trust company — ensures impartiality, proper tax handling, and accurate accounting. Their fee acts as an insurance premium against family disputes, poor investment decisions, and IRS penalties.
Coordinating With Other Georgia Estate Planning Tools
Even the best trust plan needs supporting documents:
- Last Will and Testament in Georgia – Acts as a backup for assets not titled in your trust.
- Financial Power of Attorney in Georgia – Allows someone to manage finances if you’re incapacitated.
- Advance Healthcare Directive in Georgia – Outlines your medical preferences and decision-makers.
- Medicaid Asset Protection Trust in Georgia – Prevents long-term care costs from consuming your estate.
Together, these tools form a complete estate plan that safeguards your family.
Why Georgia’s System Demands Active Planning
Georgia’s weak spousal rights and complex inheritance laws make blended family estate planning essential. By converting your revocable living trust into irrevocable sub-trusts upon death, you can:
- Guarantee income for your spouse.
- Prevent assets from being redirected to a new spouse.
- Protect your children’s inheritance.
- Avoid probate and family disputes.
If you’re in the Atlanta area, our Atlanta estate planning attorneys specialize in protecting blended families and second-marriage estates.
Preserving Your Legacy Across Generations
A properly drafted QTIP trust doesn’t just protect your spouse — it creates multi-generational security. When your children inherit through their own irrevocable trusts, those assets remain safe from their own divorces, lawsuits, and creditors.
Final Thoughts
If you want to stop remarriage from disinheriting your children, the solution is simple: compassion backed by control.
A revocable living trust with a QTIP provision allows you to provide for your spouse while preserving your legacy for your kids.
Georgia’s inheritance laws give you wide latitude to design these protections — but precise drafting matters. Work with an experienced Georgia estate planning attorney who understands second-marriage dynamics and blended family law to ensure your plan is airtight.
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