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If you've got a life partner but no marriage certificate, estate planning is a must. Without it, neither of you will inherit from each other—and neither of you will have a say in the other's end-of-life medical care. If you die without a valid will, state law will dictate where your solely owned property goes after your death, and it won't go to an unmarried partner. Instead, if you have no children, your closest relatives, including your parents, would inherit.

According to one estimate, about a quarter of all marriages and nearly two-thirds (63%) of remarriages involve stepchildren. No matter how loving and successful, such arrangements often pose unique personal and financial challenges that may only intensify as wealth transfers from one generation to the next. For these reasons, careful estate planning, while highly recommended for any family, is especially vital for blended ones.

Blended families are incredibly common, and this term encompasses a vast array of family situations. Very often, however, blended families involve a marriage in which one or both spouses have children from a prior relationship. Sometimes the couple also has children in common, but this is not always the case. Because families are all different and the term blended family can mean so many things, the standard estate planning documents may not be enough to satisfy your plann

Are you and your spouse in relative good health today and able to manage if the other one needed caregiving assistance? If your health took a turn, do you want to age in place, or is it possible that one of your children would want you to live closer by? Talk it through with your spouse and your kids so that everyone understand your wishes.

A second marriage can be a balm for the heartache of losing a spouse, be it through death or divorce. Most people mean well: They want their spouse to inherit their possessions when they die, and their heirs to split what's left when the spouse dies. And they want everyone, including their children and their spouse's children, to be happy. No one wants a brawl to break out when the will is read. Here are five ways to prevent that.