What a surviving spouse inherits when there is no will
Maryland's intestacy statute divides a probate estate by family shape, not by need. A surviving spouse receives everything only when the person who died left no children, or left children who are all also the surviving spouse's children and none of whom are minors. When there are children from a prior relationship and none are minors, the spouse receives the first $100,000 plus one half of the remainder, and those children divide the rest. When any child is under 18, the spouse receives one half. Registered domestic partners are treated as spouses for intestacy purposes.
What stepchildren inherit
A stepchild who was never legally adopted has no automatic right to inherit under Maryland intestacy law. Length of the relationship does not matter. An adopted child inherits exactly as a biological child does. A stepchild can inherit whatever a will or trust leaves them, and when they do, no Maryland inheritance tax applies, because stepchildren and their descendants are on the state's exempt list.
The elective share: why a spouse cannot be fully disinherited
A surviving spouse in Maryland may renounce the will and claim an elective share: one third of the estate subject to election when the decedent left surviving descendants, one half when there are none. Since October 1, 2020, the share is calculated against the augmented estate, which includes the probate estate, the decedent's revocable trusts, property subject to a qualifying power of disposition, qualifying joint interests, and qualifying lifetime transfers. Moving assets into a revocable trust no longer defeats the share. Spouses can waive the elective share in a valid written agreement, before or during the marriage, and such waivers are a routine part of many second-marriage plans.
The two Maryland death taxes, and who is exempt
Maryland is the only state with both an estate tax and an inheritance tax. The inheritance tax is 10% and applies only to inheritances left to people outside the exempt circle. Exempt: spouses, registered domestic partners, children and stepchildren and their descendants, grandchildren, parents, grandparents, siblings, and sons- and daughters-in-law. Not exempt: an unmarried partner, nieces and nephews, cousins, and friends. The estate tax applies to estates above $5 million, a figure fixed by statute rather than indexed for inflation, and a married couple can preserve both exemptions with the right elections. Details and current federal figures are in our Maryland estate and inheritance tax guide.
Why beneficiary forms override wills
Retirement accounts, life insurance, and payable-on-death accounts pass to the person named on the beneficiary form regardless of what a will says. In second marriages, outdated forms are the most common single failure we find: a former spouse still named, or everything passing outright to the new spouse when the plan intends a trust. A blended-family plan is not complete until every designation has been read and matched to it.
How blended families keep both promises
The structure that fits most second marriages is a trust that provides for the surviving spouse for life and then distributes the remainder to named children. The spouse is secure without owning the assets outright, and the children's remainder is fixed in a document the survivor cannot rewrite. Around it, a complete plan addresses how the home is titled, every beneficiary designation, a spousal agreement where the elective share needs one, and a trustee choice that will not put two sides of a family against each other. We wrote more about how this plays out for real families in our blended family article.