Wills for Blended Families: Your Options Explained
If you have children from an earlier relationship and a new husband, wife or partner, an ordinary will can quietly do the opposite of what you meant. Wills for blended families have to solve two things at once: keeping the person you live with secure for life, and making sure your own children still inherit what you intended. Those two aims pull against each other, and that tension is the whole difficulty.
This guide is for anyone planning ahead in a second marriage, and for adult children worried about a parent's will. It covers how children get left out by accident, how a life interest trust works, its real drawbacks, and what it costs.
The short version:
● Stepchildren inherit nothing automatically. Under the intestacy rules of England and Wales, only biological and legally adopted children inherit. A stepchild has to be named in a will.
● If you die without a will, your husband, wife or civil partner takes your personal possessions, the first £322,000, and half of the remainder. Your children share the other half.
● Leaving everything to your partner outright puts your children's share entirely in their hands, to spend or to leave elsewhere.
● Mirror wills record two matching intentions. They do not bind the survivor, who can make a new will the following week.
● A life interest trust can give your partner a home for life while ring-fencing capital for your children. It costs more, needs trustees, and has genuine downsides, all set out below.
● Marrying, or entering a civil partnership, cancels an existing will unless it was made in contemplation of that marriage.
● A will that was never updated can sometimes still be corrected after a death, by a deed of variation made within 2 years.
What makes wills for blended families different
Wills for blended families provide for a new partner and for children from a previous relationship at the same time, without leaving either group dependent on the other's goodwill. They matter because the usual approach, everything to your spouse and then to "our children", assumes one family unit. A blended family is at least two.
Nearly everything that goes wrong comes from one place: once an asset passes to someone outright it is theirs, and a promise made to you beforehand changes none of that.
Three ways children get left out of a will by accident:
None of these happens because anyone behaved badly. They happen because of what the law does when a will is silent, or when a will hands someone outright ownership.
1. When There is no will at all
Without a valid will, the intestacy rules decide who inherits, in a fixed order: your husband, wife or civil partner takes your personal possessions, the first £322,000, and half of what is left, and your children share the other half. Stepchildren are not included unless you legally adopted them, and an unmarried partner inherits nothing however long you were together. Our guide to the intestacy rules sets out the full order, and GOV.UK has the official position.
2. When Everything passes to your husband, wife or partner
This is the most common arrangement and the one that surprises families most. Once your share of the house and your savings belong to your partner outright, your children have no legal claim on any of it. Your partner may fully intend to pass it on. They may also remarry, which cancels their existing will, or simply write a new one.
3. When You both make mirror wills
Mirror wills are two near-identical wills, usually leaving everything to each other and then on to an agreed group of children. They are straightforward, inexpensive, and for plenty of couples exactly right. What they are not is binding: the survivor can make a new will the following week. A mirror will records a shared intention rather than locking it in, and that is the biggest misunderstanding we come across on this subject.
How a life interest trust works in a will
A life interest trust, also called an interest in possession trust, splits ownership instead of handing everything over. Your share of the home, or a sum of money, goes into a trust rather than to your partner directly.
Your partner then has the right to live in the property for the rest of their life, or to receive the income from the capital. When they die, that capital is not theirs to give away: it passes to the people you named, usually your own children.
So your partner has security and cannot be asked to leave, your children have an entitlement nobody can rewrite, and if your partner remarries the trust capital does not follow them into the new marriage. Read more about how we set up a trust, or see how GOV.UK explains trust taxation.
What are the disadvantages of a life interest trust?
Most guides on this subject present a life interest trust as the answer and stop there. It is often a good answer, and it also has real costs and real failure points.
Know all of them before you decide:
● It costs more. Our guide fee for a trust is £3,500 + VAT, against £650 + VAT for mirror wills. Full guide fees are on our fees page.
● Someone has to run it. Trustees have ongoing duties: records, tax and reporting, and acting fairly between your partner and your children. That job can last decades.
● It can put your partner and your children on opposite sides. Your partner wants a comfortable home and income; your children want the capital preserved. Choose trustees badly and a structure becomes a standing argument.
● It reduces flexibility. A narrowly drafted trust can leave your partner unable to move somewhere smaller twenty years later. A flexible life interest trust helps, and adds complexity in return.
● The tax position needs thought. Where the life interest is for a spouse or civil partner, the spouse exemption normally applies on the first death, and the trust capital is then treated as part of the survivor's estate when they die. It does not remove value from the estate, and how the residence nil-rate band applies depends on who ultimately inherits. See our page on inheritance tax.
● Sometimes it is the wrong tool. For a modest estate, or a couple whose children are all shared, the cost and administration may buy very little. Specific gifts to your children, a discretionary trust, or a life policy written in trust can do the job more simply.
Will a life interest trust protect your home from care home fees?
No arrangement can be promised to protect a home from care fees, and anyone saying otherwise is overselling.
A trust created by your will takes effect on your death and is not a gift you made during your lifetime, and the deprivation of assets rules local authorities apply are aimed at people who dispose of their own assets while expecting to need care. Those rules sit in Annex E of the government's care and support statutory guidance. Your surviving partner's own share of the home and their own savings still stay theirs, and stay assessable. How a local authority treats a life interest in the other share depends on the facts of the case.
What type of will is best for a blended family?
There is no single best will for a blended family. Wills for blended families come down to three realistic options in England and Wales, and the right one depends on whether your children need protecting from decisions made after your death, and on whether the estate is large enough to justify the cost of a trust.
| Everything to your partner | Mirror wills | Life interest trust | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What your partner gets | Full ownership | Full ownership | A home for life, or the income |
| Your children's position | No protection | No protection | A defined share of the capital |
| If your partner remarries | Their will is cancelled | Their will is cancelled | Trust capital is unaffected |
| Can it be changed after your death | Yes, freely | Yes, freely | Not the trust terms |
| Our guide fee | £350 + VAT, single will | £650 + VAT | £3,500 + VAT |
| Main drawback | No protection for your children | Looks like a promise, is not one | Cost, trustee duties, less flexibility |
| Best for | Couples whose children are all shared | Couples who trust each other's follow-through and want low cost | Protecting children from a previous relationship where the home is the main asset |
Guide fees are published under Solicitors Regulation Authority price transparency rules, and the final figure depends on your circumstances.
Does remarrying cancel your existing will?
Yes. Under the Wills Act 1837, marrying or entering a civil partnership automatically revokes an existing will, unless that will was made in contemplation of the marriage and says so. If no new will is made, your estate then passes under the intestacy rules. For blended families this is often the most consequential fact on this page, because a carefully planned will can be undone by a wedding nobody thought to mention to their solicitor.
The Law Commission recommended abolishing this rule in Modernising Wills Law, published on 16 May 2025, with a draft Bill alongside it. That is a recommendation to government rather than a change in the law, so the current rule still applies.
How you own your home matters as much as your will
If you own your home as joint tenants, your share passes automatically to the other owner when you die and your will has no say in it. That is worth reading twice, because a will leaving your share into a trust for your children can be defeated by the way the deeds are drawn. If you own as tenants in common, each of you owns a defined share and can leave it where you choose. Changing from one to the other is a straightforward step called severing the joint tenancy, and for many blended families it is the first thing that needs doing.
Making sure "my children" means what you intend
Ordinary people genuinely disagree about who counts as a stepchild, and a will that says only "my children" inherits that disagreement. In legal terms the phrase means your biological and legally adopted children. Stepchildren are not included unless you name them, or the will defines the term to include them.
Both choices are legitimate. If you want your stepchildren to inherit alongside your own children, they need naming. If you would rather they did not, saying so plainly, with a letter of wishes explaining your reasoning, is far kinder than leaving your family to guess.
If the will was never updated: deeds of variation
A deed of variation is a written agreement, made after someone has died, that redirects part of an inheritance to someone else. It matters for blended families because it is the one route available when a parent died with an out-of-date will, or none at all, and the people who did inherit want to put things right.
The conditions are strict. The variation has to be made within 2 years of the death, it has to be in writing, and everyone left worse off by the change has to agree to it and sign. If it increases the inheritance tax due, HMRC must be told within 6 months of the variation. GOV.UK sets out the rules on altering a will after a death, and the inheritance tax conditions sit in HMRC's guidance on instruments of variation.
In practice this is how a surviving second spouse who inherited everything can pass a share to stepchildren. It depends entirely on the people who inherited being willing, so it is a repair rather than a plan.
What is fair in a second marriage?
"Is that fair?" sits underneath almost every enquiry we take on this subject, usually attached to a specific worry: a new spouse's children standing to inherit alongside, or instead of, your own.
There is no legal answer to fairness. What the law gives you is the ability to be deliberate: to decide who gets what, to say why in a letter of wishes, and to choose a structure that holds. Most of the family conflict we see does not come from a decision anyone disagreed with. It comes from a decision nobody explained, or from a will that quietly stopped doing what it was written to do.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do stepchildren inherit if there is no will?
No. Under the intestacy rules in England and Wales, only biological and legally adopted children inherit. Stepchildren receive nothing automatically, however close the relationship or however long you were part of their life. The only way a stepchild inherits from you is if you name them in a valid will.
Can a stepchild contest a will?
Possibly. Under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975, a person treated as a child of the family, which can include a stepchild, may apply to court for reasonable financial provision. A former spouse who has not remarried may also apply. Claims are normally brought within six months of the grant of representation.
Can I stop my partner changing their will after I die?
Not by asking, and not with mirror wills. A promise, however sincere, does not bind the survivor. The reliable route is to take the choice out of their hands, by placing your share into a life interest trust so the capital is never theirs to give away.
How much does a life interest trust will cost?
Our guide fee for a trust is £3,500 + VAT, against £350 + VAT for a single will and £650 + VAT for mirror wills. Guide fees are published under Solicitors Regulation Authority price transparency rules, and the final figure depends on your estate and your family.
Do stepchildren count as children in wills?
Not automatically. In a will, "my children" means your biological and legally adopted children unless the will says otherwise. A stepchild counts only if you name them, or the will defines "children" to include them. Under the intestacy rules, a stepchild who was never legally adopted inherits nothing at all.
How does inheritance work with blended families?
The same rules apply as to any estate, which is the problem. Your will governs your own assets, the intestacy rules apply if there is no will, and property held as joint tenants passes automatically outside the will. None of these makes any allowance for children from a previous relationship, so it has to be planned deliberately.
How do I protect my children's inheritance?
The reliable route is to stop your assets passing outright to anyone else. A life interest trust gives your partner a home for life while the capital stays earmarked for your children. Holding the home as tenants in common rather than joint tenants, and making specific gifts, both help too.
Should my spouse and I make separate wills?
In a blended family, usually yes, in the sense that each will needs writing for your own children and your own assets rather than as a matching pair. You can still plan together and sign on the same day. What matters is that the content reflects two different sets of beneficiaries.
Where to start
You do not need to have decided anything before you speak to us. Most people arrive with a rough worry about fairness rather than a preference between trusts, and working out which option fits your family is the job, not your homework.
We offer a free, no-obligation 20-minute chat to talk it through. If travelling is difficult, we can visit you at home, in hospital or in a hospice. Call us on 0208 515 2790 or use our enquiry form.
Author Bio:
Nasreen Akhter is the founding director of Ash Hill Solicitors and a private client solicitor with over a decade of experience in probate, wills, estate planning and elderly client care. Known for her calm, compassionate approach, she guides individuals and families through life's most sensitive legal matters with clarity and care.
Nasreen is also an accredited civil and commercial mediator, and is listed on the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) register. Outside of work, she's a dedicated mum and chairs Happy Orphans Worldwide, a charity supporting vulnerable children worldwide.
