Numerous studies show a senior widower is much less likely to stay single than his female counterpart.
A lot of reasons are given for the difference, but part of it is due to the simple fact that men tend to die sooner so more elderly widows than widowers are available.
Whatever the reasons, they often leaves the question of how the father can protect the children's inheritance if there is a second wife in the picture. In that case, a trust may be a man's best friend, according to advisors.
More than 60 percent of men and less than 20 percent of women are involved in a new romance or remarried within two years of being widowed. At the same time, 15 percent of widows and 37 percent of widowers age 65 an older are interested in dating a year and a half after the death of a spouse, studies show.
To avoid the time and expense of probate proceedings, property should be put in a living trust when a widower has children and then remarries, says J. Graydon Coghlan, president of CFG Wealth Management of La Jolla, Calif.
"I have a client whose wife died 10 years ago and he just remarried. Both of their sets of children are grown. To pass on the inheritance we created a living trust," Coghlan says.
A living trust is created during a person's lifetime, rather than through a will. It can be changed at any time and the assets are in a trustee's control.
The trust can be set up so that after her husband dies, the second wife remains in the home until she dies or moves, Coghlan says.
In the case of Coghlan's clients, both of the people had homes that were paid and were to be left to their respective children. The couple is living in one home and the other is being rented.
There is another difference between men and women who are left alone when a spouse dies, says Holly Deni, director of the elderly life division of Locker Financial Services in Little Falls, N.J.