Are you married to an evil stepparent?

I can't think of many who would answer "yes" to this question, but I can certainly think of dozens of families I've met over the years who wish their re-married parent had thought more clearly about their wills in light of the second marriage.

Click here to read an article by lawyer Rania Combs in which she tells us about a family in which the new wife did seem to turn into an evil stepmother once her husband passed away.  Ms. Combs also gives a couple of suggestions on dealing with your will when you are re-married.

A tip offered by Ms. Combs that I completely agree with is the idea of having a neutral party named as executor. Those who re-marry either don't see or refuse to see that once they have passed away, the link between the kids and the new spouse is severed. In many, many cases the relationship between the kids and the new spouse does not continue on once the person they had in common is gone.

Why on earth would you leave your kids and your new spouse to figure out your estate without a neutral party? That seems downright negligent to me.