All too often, young parents ignore estate planning because they believe they are too young, cannot afford the expense, or are in excellent health and will not have to worry about it for very long time. Regardless of your reasons, young parents are almost at a greater need of estate planning than the elderly. Let’s take a look at why young families need to develop estate plans as soon as possible.
Childcare
If your child is faced with a sudden reality of both parents dying, who will step in to take over parenting duties? By creating an estate plan the parents get to choose who becomes the child’s guardian and who is responsible for educating, caring for, and raising the child. If not, a court will have to step in to appoint a guardian, a process that could leave someone you may not approve of as the legal caregiver to your child.
Financial Care
Let’s say you and your spouse are injured in an accident and are no longer able to care for yourselves or anyone else. Who will manage your property? How will they do it? If you haven’t created an estate plan, the answer to these questions is often unclear. A court will have to step in and name someone as a conservator of your estate. This process can be long and expensive and is largely unnecessary, as long as you develop an estate plan that makes provisions for such an event.
Michael Robinson, Estate Planning Attorney
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