united-states trusts-and-estates
How do I protect my assets in a will from being passed to potential second spouse if my wife should remarry and die?
<p>Jurisdiction in in the USA . I do have children and want them to have my assets should my wife remarry and --pass away-- and not to her  second spouse. 
We are writing our will out and someone mentioned to us that if either one of us should remarry and die - any assets would go to the surviving spouse instead of 
to our children. I want my assets to stay within our current family and want to know of a legal way to do this.</p>

<h2>Don’t give them to your wife</h2>

<p>A bequest is a gift and gift’s can’t have conditions subsequent (conditions precedent are OK - like the one where you have to be dead first). It’s a funny thing, but when you no longer own something you no longer get a say in what happens to it.</p>

<p>So you have two options:</p>

<ol>
<li>Trust your wife to do the right thing by her kids after you’re gone.</li>
<li>Bypass your wife and give your stuff to your kids directly. You can set up a trust with a trustee you trust and rules for them to follow until your kids are old enough to manage the wealth themselves.</li>
</ol>

<p>And one essential requirement:</p>

<ol>
<li>Hire a lawyer.</li>
</ol>

<p>Someone I know has a trust from their parents that says they can use the money during their life for their needs (and lists a fairly comprehensive set of examples) and upon her death the remainder goes to their children.  I think you can has some control over what happens to your money after you die.</p>

<p>Your attorney may be able to structure a trust like that where the surviving spouse does not the money outright but through a trust with provisions you desire relative to any remainder going to your children. I assume you want this to be symmetric - your second (or N+1th) wife not getting the family's wealth.</p>
