What Happens to The Children?

A common concern of parents of minor children is “who will take care of my children if i die?” Through proper estate planning you can make the decision as opposed to leaving it up to the court system to make the decision for you.

However, this decision is one of the toughest for parents to come to a decision on. Often times, it is so difficult it leads to inaction and procrastination. This deadlock could be one of the major reasons why 57% of Americans do not have a will or estate plan set up.

Unfortunately, this deadlock can have very unfortunate consequences. For example, if the planning is not completed one potential outcome is that someone who you may not like or trust could end up being the guardian of your child or children. If you do not name a guardian in your estate plan, a judge who has little knowledge of your family situation could appoint just about anyone he or she sees fit to assume the role of subsitute parent in your stead upon your passing. A very frightning proposition.

Another potentially harrowing outcome is that there could be a legal battle to decide who will assume the role of guardian for your children. If more than one person wishes to assume the role you could be setting up your family and loved ones for a time consuming, stressfull, and expensive legal tug-of-war battle, that more often than not has no real winners.

And most frighting of all, what happens if the kids are dumped on a family member who has no interest or desire to be a guardian or, even worse, the children are put into foster care. Another scary proposition for any parent.

Meeting with an estate planning attorney can help with the decision making process. As professionals who see these situations on a daily basis we have creative solutions to solve the dilema and counsel parents past the deadlock of indecision through effective legal counseling.

Don’t let this tough decision be a roadblock to completing an estate plan, because the consequences can be dire.