Estate Planning For Single Parents
As someone who has raised children on your own, you may be especially keen to preserve your estate for your adult kids after your death. With these tips, you can protect your children and ensure your estate is handled as you want.
Name an Executor That Isn't One of the Children
If you trust your adult children, it may be a natural decision to name one of them as the person who will handle estate issues once you've died. However, because your children will be grieving, it might not be easy for them to make decisions and talk with creditors. Naming someone else for the executor role can in many cases be a better idea. Whether you select an attorney, financial planner or another professional, having an expert work on lingering estate issues will shield your children from responsibilities they may not be able to handle.
Name All Children on Policies
To save some time while completing some of the many documents you've had to fill out over the years, you may have gotten into the practice of naming your oldest child in any "beneficiary" space. You might be counting on the eldest child to be fair and share any money equally among all their siblings. For many reasons, this might not be what actually takes place. To be absolutely certain that all your children are provided for, put every child's name on every single policy.
Address Current Debt
The debt you're carrying today will not pass away when you do. Instead, creditors may actively seek out your estate to settle your accounts. This can cut deeply into the money and assets you hope to give your children. As soon as today, it's wise to focus on debt reduction as a real part of your personal estate planning efforts. Look for ways you can get by with less money so that you can pay down one bill over a period of months, and then move on to another. You may even want to investigate ways to generate additional income specifically for this purpose. This will give your children a better shot at keeping everything you plan to pass down to each of them.
These issues should be discussed with your kids so that they possess as much information as they need. You might even want to have them attend meetings with your lawyer and financial planner so they can ask their own questions about the period following your death. For more information, visit a website like http://www.lynnjackson.com.
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