A parent’s primary role is to provide their kids with shelter, protection, and everything else they would need. But most of the things we just mentioned can only be provided when the parents are still alive. Now the right question is, how can a parent provide for their kids’ needs after they are gone or disabled? The simple answer to this question is estate planning.
A well-drafted estate plan can protect the things that matter to you most: your children and your property. Estate planning is a legal document that will show all your properties and specify how you intend to share them when you are gone.
However, contrary to what most people believe, when to start your estate planning is not subject to any particular time frame. It is always advisable to start when you first give birth to your child. You are free to revise and update your estate plan as your child grows and your property grows in value.
Also, since the whole thing aims to cater to your kids’ future, you do not necessarily have to be rich like Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos before you do your estate planning. Anybody can do their estate planning.
So, in this short piece, we will talk about why estate planning for parents is so important.
The Benefits of Estate Planning
If you take away the financial cost of drafting it, the benefits of estate planning can never be understated. You may not notice the effect now that you are still alive, but after you are gone, the positive effects it will have on everyone will vindicate your decision.
Let’s take a quick look at some of the benefits of estate planning:
- It ensures harmony in the family: After you are gone, people, particularly your family members, will be grieving. Planning your estate carefully will ensure that the family remains in harmony during the tough time
- It ensures a quicker resolution to your assets: Estate planning will ensure that people don’t fight over who should take over some or all of your properties. Assuming that your kids are still very young, they might even get cheated if you fail to plan your estate.
- It helps to plan for incapacity: Assume that you are involved in an accident and become incapacitated. You may be unable to pay your medical bills and other bills. However, the good news is that if you have already planned your estate before this accident, then the names you have in your estate planning document will be in charge of the medical bills, etc.
How to Create a Will
As previously stated, a will is almost the same as an estate plan. This is because they both perform basically the same function: making key decisions in your inheritance. Therefore, as a parent, if you are planning your estate, there are some things you need to include.
- Appoint a guardian and trustee for your minor children. Naming a guardian or a trustee whom you trust is an important thing that you need to include in your estate plan. A guardian will be in charge of the welfare of the kids, while a trustee will oversee the finances and all the properties you left behind. The trustee and the guardian can be the same person. But if you don’t want, you can choose different people to perform the roles of the guardian and the trustee.
However, if your first choices for the guardship and trusteeship roles can’t handle the job, you are free to name alternate choices. Before naming a legal guardian for your children, there are some factors that you need to consider. For example, you must check if your preferred candidate possesses a similar value to yours. This will go a long way toward ensuring that your kids grow up in a loving home.
- Specify who inherits your assets:You must include the list of people who should inherit your assets. In many states, when you die, your assets will automatically go to the person you named as the beneficiary of your financial accounts. As a parent, in this case, if you have the name of your spouse listed as the sole beneficiary of your financial accounts, then the assets will automatically transfer to the person. All the assets will automatically go to your children when you die. All the assets will automatically go to the kids as long as they are named in the title.
- Name an executor for your estate:When you die, you obviously can’t pay your taxes or debts. As a result, you must specify who will act as your executor in paying your taxes and debts and transferring property to the beneficiaries you specify in your will. The executor can be anyone as long as they are adults and you trust them. It can be your lawyer, a family member, or a friend. In some states, however, if you fail to name an executor in your estate plan before you die, the court will be forced to appoint an estate administrator to determine how your assets will be divided.
Conclusion
Since life is generally unpredictable, as a parent, one of the best ways to protect your children should any unexpected things happen to you is by planning your estate. This will ensure that your family will be well taken care of if you die. If you are still confused about the whole process, contact a Saanichton Law Group attorney to guide you throughout the process.
