Estate Planning for families with children

Starting a family is a big step. It is a step that comes with many new responsibilities for the new parents. Among those new responsibilities, estate planning for your growing family often gets lost in the shuffle of new parenthood. There are some keys points that you should think about when discussing your estate plan when your family is growing.

Wills

• A will has many functions in the estate plan that you can have drafted. It can cover everything from what happens to your personal items after you are gone to where your children would go if something were to happen to you. A will is a great first step to take when planning for your family. Without a will, the courts will decide what happens to your children and your assets. To avoid having the courts decide where and who your children go to, outline that decision in your will. While it is never an easy conversation to have, it is a necessary one to make sure your children go somewhere that you feel is the best situation for them.

Naming Beneficiaries

• Make sure that your accounts and insurance policies have updated beneficiaries. By doing so, you can position the person you want to be your beneficiary to take control of those assets directly after your passing.

Financial and Medical Power of Attorney

• When you become incapacitated, or are unable to make financial or medical decisions for yourself, a power of attorney can give somebody else the ability to make those decisions on your behalf. Like mentioned above, there are both financial and medical power of attorney documents that you can have drafted. A financial  power of attorney document gives another person the authority to make a financial decision on your behalf when you are not there, or when you become incapacitated. Likewise, a medical power of attorney gives a person the authority to make medical decisions for you when you become incapacitated.

Living Wills

• A living will is essential to having the proper decisions made when it comes to end of life scenarios. By having a living will, you can determine what medical care and treatments you want or do not want when the time comes for those decisions to be made. Take the decisions out of the hands of the people you care about. Those can be extremely difficult decisions for a loved one to make. With a living will, you can make those decisions for them.