An elder law attorney at The Law Office of Michael Robinson, P.C. can provide advice on the plans that you need to make to protect and provide for your family in case something happens to you. There are many different steps that you may need to take to make sure your loved ones will not experience financial hardship or a major decline in quality of life if something happens to you. One such step may involve the purchase of a life insurance policy. 
Determining if you need life insurance coverage can be complicated, and there could also be additional issues to address regarding how you should structure your policy and whether you should name an individual or a trust as the beneficiary who will receive the death benefit if you pass away.
The Law Office of Michael Robinson, P.C. can provide assistance in understanding the relevant issues when you make a decision of whether you need life insurance and how your policy should be structured. Give us a call today to find out more about how an elder law attorney at our firm can help with this issue and can assist with the other key estate planning issues that matter to you.
Do You Need Life Insurance?
Purchasing a life insurance policy is important if you have people who depend on your income. If you have a spouse who needs your help paying the bills, this is an example of a situation when buying life insurance makes sense because your husband or wife could be facing a dire financial emergency if you pass away without providing a generous inheritance.
If you have a child, you likely need life insurance. Raising children can be very expensive and you may want to purchase a policy that would provide for your child’s care and for your child’s education. If you don’t want to leave a large amount of money from the life insurance policy directly to a child and/or if you want more control over how the proceeds from the life insurance policy are used to care for your child, you may wish to create a trust and name the trust as the beneficiary of the policy. The death benefit would then be paid to the trust and you could designate a trustee who has a fiduciary duty to act in accordance with your wishes regarding the use of the money.
You may also need to purchase a life insurance policy even if you do not earn income if you are providing valuable services to anyone. For example, if you have a household or a child who you are taking care of and you pass away, someone would likely need to be paid to take over the roles you are currently fulfilling. Likewise, if you have aging parents who you are caring for, they may need to pay a home health aide or even move into a nursing home if you are not there to provide assistance any longer. Buying a life insurance policy could provide funds so that your loved ones can pay someone to continue providing the help and support that you were offering when you were alive.
You should also consider buying a policy even if you do not have anyone depending upon you yet if you suspect that you will have someone who relies on you in the future. You don’t want to wait to buy a policy only to get sick and become uninsurable. Buying a life insurance policy when you are younger could also be cheaper than waiting until you get older and really need the coverage.
Getting Help from an Elder Law Attorney
An elder law attorney at The Law Office of Michael Robinson, P.C. can assist you with determining if you should buy a life insurance policy and with determining if an individual or a trust should receive the policy payout if something happens to you. We can also help you with trust creation and with making effective use of other legal tools that you need to incorporate into your plans for the future to protect your loved ones.
To find out how our firm can help you, join us for a free seminar. You can also give us a call at (585) 374-5210 or contact us online at any time to talk with a compassionate and knowledgeable member of our legal team about the creation of your personalized plan to provide for the people you care about. Call today to get your plans underway.
