Heritage Trust
By Nicole Garton
August 7th, 2026
Estate Planning for Blended Families: The Traps and The Fixes
If you have a spouse or partner, and either of you has children from an earlier relationship, your estate needs more thought than a standard will gives it.
Blended family estates are among the most fought-over estates in Canada, and it usually has nothing to do with how well the family gets along.
Two honest goals pull in opposite directions: take care of your spouse for the rest of their life, and make sure your own children eventually receive something. A plan that ignores either one invites a fight. And every one of these disputes feeds on ambiguity, silence, and surprise.
IMPORTANT: If you are treating children differently, write down your reasons, and date it! To the law, a stepchild is not a child. If you mean to include a stepchild, name them in every document, every time.
A plan you have explained to the people it affects has already won most of the argument, even if not everyone likes it. Learn about the tools that help balance —and protect— both sides…
Estate law remains deeply jurisdiction-specific, and assumptions about how the law will recognize family relationships can easily misfire across provincial lines. If you intend for someone to benefit from your estate, particularly where family relationships do not align neatly with legal categories, that intention must be expressed clearly.
Jessica J. Butler, Fasken LLP
