Modern families are complex families

Many people think that modern families are more complex than the "traditional" families of the past. However, I think the Leave It to Beaver household is largely a fiction of the 1950's. Even before divorce was widely acceptable and available, many families were disrupted by death, abandonment, or financial crisis. In my own family, a great-great-grandmother of mine was widowed young with a small child, then widowed again in her later years, and remarried each time.

In this piece from the New York Times blog "The New Old Age," the complicated scenarios surrounding caring for divorced elderly parents and their ex- and current spouses shows the latest variation on family life. Here's just a brief excerpt:

With remarriages, moreover, the cast of characters increases. Children may find themselves caring for three or four older people instead of one or two, dealing with several sets of doctors, social workers, accountants and attorneys. And with stepsiblings, sometimes a squadron of them.

And you can just guess the potential for conflict, either among adult children/stepchildren or between children and parent's "new" spouse. Topics such as nursing care, assets, or inheritance are potential sources for conflict over which families (and their attorneys) can fight.