Will my stepchild inherit anything?

In the United States, we have millions of blended families; because of this, there are many complicated family situations and many questions about the inheritance rights of both biological and stepchildren.

According to the Texas Probate Code, stepchildren do not have many rights to inherit from their stepparents, if the stepparent dies without valid will or Trust. When a stepparent dies without creating a will, it is said that they died "intestate." An intestate's heirs have a right of succession as determined by the Texas Probate Code. Which means that when people die intestate, state laws strictly dictate which family members will inherit the decedent's estate. Generally, the assets are passed down to the surviving spouse, biological and adopted children, biological and adopted grandchildren, and in some cases, the decedent's parents.

A stepchild does not have a right to the stepparent's intestate property under the Texas Probate Code because the state does not consider the stepchild a legal relative. Therefore, if the stepparent died without a living spouse or biological or adopted children, their inheritance would likely go to their surviving parents or the deceased's siblings, and not the deceased’s stepchildren. This is true even when a stepparent has a very close relationship or bond with his stepchild; even if they raised the stepchildren as their own since they were in daycare or preschool. It also applies to a child of a single parent who later marries, and the new husband or wife raises the spouse's natural child.

So, let's say that a man had two children with his first wife. A victim of parental alienation, his adult children from his first marriage refuse to speak to him. Moving on with his life, he later remarried a wonderful woman with a one-year-old daughter and went on to raise her as his own.

From the beginning, the husband/stepparent developed a deep bond with his second wife's baby girl. He paid for her college and wedding, and he was the only father she ever knew.

The husband/stepparent didn't think about formally adopting his stepdaughter, and because he feared his own mortality, he never drafted a will or trust. Then when he died suddenly of a heart attack, half of his rather large estate was passed on to his two adult children, who he hadn't seen or heard from in 50 years, and meanwhile, his beloved stepdaughter, who was a single mother raising a couple of children on her own didn't receive a penny.

How could this happen? This is the harsh reality of Texas Intestate Probate law. Stepchildren do not have the same inheritance rights as biological and adopted children. If a stepparent wants to leave a stepchild any part of their estate, they must leave specific bequests in a will. Otherwise, the stepchild could receive nothing, even if that was not the stepparent's intention.

If you would like to bequeath assets to your stepchildren, you will need to specify your wishes in a will and/or a trust. To get started, contact an estate planning attorney for legal advice.

Paul B. Owens is an attorney practicing in the areas of Probate and Estate Planning law. He serves in a number of other capacities, including on the Board of Directors for the CASA Helotes Senior Center in Helotes Texas. He can be reached at his office in Helotes at 210-695-5110 or at www. PaulOwensLaw.com