Information center: lifestyle with children
Estate Planning: Thinking (Way) Ahead
Most of us with children in diapers really don't want to think about estate planning. When your days are spent wiping food off the floor and your sleep is fitful at best, it just doesn't seem like a great time to confront the possibility that you won't be around to see those children grow up.
The truth is, though, that preparing a basic estate plan, like most of what makes up your day, is an act of love and responsibility. Whether you like it or not, thinking about who will take care of your children if you can't, and how their financial needs will be taken care of, is important - if you don't do it, a court will.
A simple will can take care of the basics of estate planning: a) by appointing a guardian for minor children and b) by setting up a system to manage the property left for your children. If you die without a will, your property will be distributed according to state law, which may not be what you had in mind. If you don't appoint a guardian, a judge will do it, regardless of any oral understandings you might have had with friends or family.
There are self-help books and software available from Nolo Press, that you can use to draft your own simple will. To draft a will that will help you avoid paying unnecessary estate taxes (which start at 37% and go as high as 55%), or to draft a document called a living trust, that will avoid having your estate pass through probate, you should seek professional help.
