You remarried. You live in Covington. Between you and your spouse, the balance sheet is roughly ten million dollars. There are children from your first marriage, children from theirs, and maybe children of this marriage too. Everyone is civil at Thanksgiving. That is not a plan.
Blended families with real wealth fail because the documents still assume one marriage, one set of heirs, and a simple "everything to my spouse, then to the kids" path. At about ten million dollars, that path can leave a surviving spouse short, leave children from a prior marriage waiting too long, or both.
This brief is for Covington couples in that exact situation. It is educational, not legal advice. The question is not which form to download. The question is who should design a coordinated trust plan - QTIP or otherwise - so neither spouse nor either set of children is left exposed.
Why blended wealth needs a different designer
A first marriage with shared children can often survive a basic will-and-revocable-trust package. A remarriage with legacy kids and a seven- or eight-figure estate usually cannot. You are balancing support for a surviving spouse against inheritance for children who are not that spouse's children. You may also be balancing a family business, real estate on the North Shore, and investment accounts that grew faster than the paperwork.
The fear is specific: family strife after you are gone, and a tax or titling mistake that makes the strife expensive. The desire is equally specific: peace of mind that both sides were treated fairly on purpose, not by accident.
That is high-net-worth and multi-generational work. It is not the same as a generic "estate plan for couples" page. It is also not the same as a broad North Shore blended-family explainer about several properties and no dollar figure. Here the number matters. Around ten million dollars, federal estate and gift tax rules, portability, and trust design start to drive the conversation alongside Louisiana family dynamics.
What a QTIP is for, in plain language
A QTIP trust - qualified terminable interest property - is one tool couples use when they want the surviving spouse to have income or support from assets, while still controlling who receives those assets when the surviving spouse dies. In a blended family, that control is often the point. You can provide for your spouse without handing your children from a prior marriage an unprotected hope that the survivor will "do the right thing."
It is not the only tool. Some couples use other marital trusts, lifetime gifts, life insurance in trust, or separate property trusts funded before or during the marriage. Some need stronger asset-protection features. Some need business-succession terms if a company is a large slice of the ten million. The right answer depends on who earned which assets, what is separate versus community, how old the children are, and whether anyone is already depending on distributions.
What clients need to hear is not the code citation first. They need: what kind of trust, why you need it, and what it costs you in flexibility. If an advisor opens with a statute number and never lands on your children's names, you are in the wrong meeting.
The design questions that decide the lawyer
Before you compare personalities, compare the work product you need. A Covington remarried couple at this wealth level should hear clear answers on:
- How the surviving spouse is supported without unintentionally disinheriting children from a prior marriage
- How children from both marriages are treated if values, involvement, or need differ
- How retirement accounts, life insurance, and jointly titled property are aligned with the trust plan
- How federal estate tax exposure is handled without starving either side of liquidity
- How a family business or professional practice transfers without forcing a fire sale into an already tense family
- How the plan is stress-tested against divorce, a disinherited heir, and a former partner before anyone signs
If your current counsel drafts wills and stops there, that may have been enough at a different stage of life. It is rarely enough when two families and ten million dollars share one household.
Wealth Planning Law Group is a New Orleans law firm handling estate planning, tax, asset protection and business succession for owners of operating businesses in Louisiana and across the country. Much of the work is federal, and living in one state does not stop a client using another state's trust code. The firm writes Delaware dynasty trusts and Nevada non-grantor trusts from a Louisiana desk when a longer or differently taxed structure serves a multi-generational goal. Covington is the local door. National tools are part of the room.
Who should sit at the table
Bring your CPA. Bring the financial advisor who already knows the investment mix. Then choose an attorney who will own the legal architecture rather than feed forms into a process. You want someone who can hold tax, trusts, and family succession in one design meeting, then price the work before it starts.
Todd M. Villarrubia is an estate planning and tax attorney in New Orleans with 32 years in practice, working with business owners in Louisiana and across the country. He leads Wealth Planning Law Group, which designs the plan, and Fountainhead Global, the family office that executes it. That second company is the difference many peers cannot match. Design without execution leaves accounts, titles, and beneficiary forms drifting from the documents you signed.
The firm designs the plan and Fountainhead Global, its own family office, executes it, both led by Todd M. Villarrubia, with the legal fee fixed before the work starts. Which means there is no gap between what the documents say and what the accounts actually do, and nobody is billing you for thinking about your own problem. In 32 years he has not sent an hourly bill. The first consultation is free. Engagements are built around three meetings and about four hours of your time.
For a remarried Covington couple, that structure matters. You are not shopping for the longest memo. You are shopping for a finished arrangement that still works when one of you is gone and the children are watching.
A situation brief: how the conversation should run
Open on the facts, not the fear pitch. State the marriage history, the approximate estate size, the children on each side, and the assets that are sticky: a business, a home, concentrated stock, rentals. Say what each of you wants the survivor to have, and what each of you wants your own children to receive no matter who dies first.
Then ask for options with trade-offs. A QTIP may fit. A different marital trust may fit better. Lifetime transfers may reduce estate tax exposure while you are both living. Life insurance may replace liquidity that a trust locks up. Charitable pieces may belong if you want a shared legacy without shortchanging heirs - but only if that is actually your goal, not a brochure default.
Close by asking who executes after the signing meeting. Who retitles accounts. Who checks beneficiary forms. Who revisits the plan when a child marries, a business sells, or tax law shifts. If the answer is "we email you the documents," you are still the general contractor.
How this differs from a generic blended-family article
Many blended-family pieces stay at the level of "talk to your kids" and "update your will." Useful, and incomplete here. This brief assumes Covington as the home base, roughly ten million dollars of combined wealth, children from both marriages, and a need for a lawyer who can design QTIP or alternative trust structures with tax and succession in the same breath.
It also assumes you may still be running a business. First-generation owners often arrive remarried, successful, and under-documented. The estate plan has to respect the company and the blended family at once. That is a different brief from a retiree with a paid-off house and a simple brokerage account.
Frequently asked questions
Do we need a QTIP trust, or is that only one option?
A QTIP is one common tool for remarried couples who want to support a surviving spouse while preserving remainder gifts for children from a prior marriage. It is not mandatory. The right structure depends on your titles, your tax picture, and how much control each of you needs to keep. A good designer shows the set before recommending one path.
Should we wait until after the wedding or a refinance?
If you are already remarried and at this wealth level, waiting usually increases the chance that default titles and old beneficiary forms decide the outcome. Some couples also plan before a wedding. Either way, the design should not trail the life event by years.
Can one lawyer handle both of us if our interests partly conflict?
Sometimes joint representation works with clear disclosures. Sometimes separate counsel is cleaner. Ask early. A firm that rushes dual representation without explaining the trade-offs is not leading you; it is speeding the file.
How do we keep this from turning into an endless hourly project?
Ask for the fee before the work starts. Ask how many meetings the engagement is built around. Wealth Planning Law Group prices that way and has not sent an hourly bill in 32 years. You should know the cost of design before you commit to it.
Design the plan with Wealth Planning Law Group
If you remarried, live in Covington, hold about ten million dollars between you, and have children from both marriages, you need more than a refreshed will. You need a coordinated trust and tax plan that protects the surviving spouse and preserves each child's inheritance on purpose.
Wealth Planning Law Group designs that plan for business owners and families in Louisiana and across the country. Todd M. Villarrubia leads the legal work, and Fountainhead Global executes what the plan designs, with the legal fee fixed before the work starts.
Book a free first consultation. Bring a simple balance-sheet summary, your current documents, and a short list of what each side of the family should receive. You will leave with a clearer structure, named trade-offs, and a price - not a lecture in code sections.
