Back to School Estate Planning: Protecting Your Kids’ Future
During the back-to-school season in August, it is easy to focus on numerous details that only affect the immediate future. You buy as many school clothes as you can before the tax-free shopping days end, even though you know your children will have outgrown them a year from now. You scramble to buy all the school supplies that your children’s school requests, hoping that the stores still have some left by the time you get there; the pride you feel when your child enthusiastically checks items off the list as you put them in the shopping cart is enough to make up for the frustration of braving the crowds at the store. Once the school bell rings, it is time to think about the long term, though. People whose parenting journey began before yours did will take every opportunity to tell you that, with children, the days are long, but the years are short. The best decision you can make this back-to-school season is to begin your estate plan, even if you think you are too young and too broke. If you are stuck on how to begin, contact a Bronx estate planning lawyer.
Parents Need an Estate Plan, Even If They Are Broke
The deciding factor about whether you need a will is not whether you own anything; rather, it is whether you love anyone. You probably meant to start your estate plan when your oldest child was born, but the baby years are a blur; now you have been through several rounds of back-to-school shopping, and you still do not have a will.
Even if you have so few assets that your estate would qualify for simplified probate proceedings, you still need a will if you have minor children. If nothing else, you should appoint a guardian of your children’s property and determine with whom the children will live until they reach adulthood if you and your spouse both die while your children are minors. The guardian of children’s property acts as a trustee for the children’s inherited money, and is accountable to the court in this capacity, until the children reach adulthood, at which time they have access to their own inherited property.
Set an Estate Plan Now, and Revise It When Your Children Grow Up
The estate plan you build now is a stopgap measure; estate plans are always subject to revision. For now, an “I love you” will is fine; this is where your spouse inherits your entire estate if you predecease your spouse, and your children inherit everything if your spouse predeceases you. If you have minor children, it is a good idea to buy a term life insurance policy with your children as beneficiaries. Life insurance policies are dirt cheap at your age, and in the unlikely event that the insurance company will have to pay them out, your children will inherit something.
Schedule a Confidential Consultation With a Bronx Estate Planning Attorney
An estate planning lawyer can help you make an estate plan that will last until your children grow up. Contact Cavallo & Cavallo in the Bronx, New York to set up a consultation.