That’s shitty. All kids should get something.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It doesn’t just “happen” unless the man fails to do any planning. There is also no excuse for a much younger wife to not make her own life plans if she knows her DH has a prior family.

You're funny. If there is an easier way to make money, why should she make her own life plans? Not that i advocate that, but you sound pretty naïve.

Because if she knew upfront that her husband's first family was going to be getting half (or some other portion) of his assets, then she'd know to plan accordingly. Choosing not to shows she's obviously a gold digger.

That said, there are certainly issues that could be at play that the husband's assets might not have to go to first family, but if that's the case then an explanation would go a long way to avoiding situations like OP's. If her step father left just a tiny bit of explanation/documentation of his reasoning then the whole point would be resolved in no time.

This is why married people should take note. Put your assets in a trust to benefit your spouse, then kids when spouse dies. Then even if one remarries, they can’t cut they first kids out. With a 50% divorce rate, it’s naive to think it could never happen to your marriage.

This is what happened with Huguette Clark, the heiress who lived in a hospital for the last 20 years of her life, despite not really being sick and having several large mansions around the country. Read Empty Mansions for a fascinating story.

Anonymous wrote:Yep, my dad is leaving everything to his new wife/family. It breaks my heart that my deceased mom's family farm is going to her.

But it is common. When a man starts a new family, he really doesn't see the first family as family anymore. Tale as old as time.

Painfully accurate.

It’s common. It happened to my mother. She was the first child and first daughter. She received nothing. Her much younger half siblings and stepmother received everything. My grandfather completely treated her different after he remarried.

Her younger sister had her wedding paid for while my mother didn’t. It’s hurtful and painful for my mom to talk about.

I also have a coworker who experienced this after she divorced her husband and remarried.

I’ve heard stories across all demographics regarding this subject.

It may be there just wasn't a will. When someone dies without a will, whatever assets whether money or house or anything else is left, it automatically goes to the spouse unless they specifically have separate property or bank accounts where the other spouse's name isn't on it. Dad should have made a will if he wanted to make sure that all the kids were taken care of.

Anonymous wrote:Yep, my dad is leaving everything to his new wife/family. It breaks my heart that my deceased mom's family farm is going to her.

But it is common. When a man starts a new family, he really doesn't see the first family as family anymore. Tale as old as time.

Horrible. I am sorry!

I'm one of the skipped kids. Wife, and then her son (not my father's biological son) will get everything. In my case it's not a big deal - the 2nd wife is pretty successful so a lot of their assets are hers anyway. And my mother negotiated a good deal in the divorce and invested well, so I will get that. Plus I've done very well myself so don't really need money from either parent, although I wouldn't say no to it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It doesn’t just “happen” unless the man fails to do any planning. There is also no excuse for a much younger wife to not make her own life plans if she knows her DH has a prior family.

You would be giving second wives legally fewer rights than first wives.

No, it's protecting biological children from being disinherited. Has nothing to do with the rights of the second wife per se. Yes, it entails she may inherit less, but that's to protect the children.

Did much younger wife make him change his will on his deathbed? You could sue and see what happens. What a witch.

Anonymous wrote:It doesn’t just “happen” unless the man fails to do any planning. There is also no excuse for a much younger wife to not make her own life plans if she knows her DH has a prior family.

You would be giving second wives legally fewer rights than first wives.

Anonymous wrote:It doesn’t just “happen” unless the man fails to do any planning. There is also no excuse for a much younger wife to not make her own life plans if she knows her DH has a prior family.

You're funny. If there is an easier way to make money, why should she make her own life plans?
Not that i advocate that, but you sound pretty naïve.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:extremely common. this is why women need to get the best divorce settlement they can including college tuition and life insurance to the extent possible.

It’s just not enforceable though. My ex is supposed to pay 1/3 of college costs. The only way that will happen is if a 4 year degree costs $3k a year. Even if I got a judgment against him, how would I collect? Make him sell his home?

well a penniless ex is a different matter! life insurance would help though.

american inheritance laws are screwed up, that's why this keeps happening. there are many countries where you can't leave your castle to a dog nor leave your bio children with nothing because you got married to a 19 year old five minutes ago.