If your mother passed away and your father got married again, some studies suggest that your family could be more likely to get into a heated estate dispute in the future. After all, stepmothers are frequently at the heart of these disagreements.
Why does this happen? Is there something that stepmothers inherently do wrong or some way that they try to take advantage of the other family members?
Though that can happen, it is usually far less malicious than that. In many cases, it is just the fact that the children do not feel all that close to their stepparents. Some reports claim that a mere 20 percent of stepchildren who have grown into adulthood actually felt like they had that close bond with this woman who replaced their mother.
That’s not to say that they actively do not get along, but the children simply do not feel like she is “part of the family” in the same way that they felt about their birth mothers. When their fathers pass away, could that connection deteriorate even more?
You may think that adult children just have not given it enough time. However, reports claim that studies have found “abundant evidence” that stepchildren never feel any closer to their stepmothers, even as the years go by.
This is not to paint stepmothers in a poor light. They may be very loving and they may do all they can to get closer to the kids. But the reality is simply that the children understand they are not related by blood, they do not feel that close bond and it can cause some issues when part of the estate goes to the stepmother. People on both sides need to know all their legal options in these complex cases.