Estate Planning That Brings Confidence and Peace of Mind

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Estate Planning to Protect your Minor Children

If you have minor children — or you're expecting your first child — add a basic Will and related documents to your to-do list. Your Will lets you name guardians to care for your kids if both you and your spouse pass away. Just as important, it lets you set up a trust to manage assets for your children until they're old enough to handle it themselves.

Without a trust, the court will require a guardianship to manage those assets — which means cumbersome reporting, unnecessary court fees, and a hard stop at age 18, when your child gets full control of the money all at once. A trust lets you delay that distribution until your child reaches a more appropriate age — 25 or 30, for example.

Along with your Will, you'll also want a Financial Power of Attorney and a Health Care Power of Attorney, so someone you trust can step in and make decisions for you if you're ever incapacitated. The most important decision in all of this: who you choose to fill these roles — guardian, trustee, and the like.

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Updating Estate Documents to Accommodate Adult Children

Once your children become adults, it's time to revisit your estate plan. A lot changes once kids age out of childhood, and your documents should catch up.

For starters, the guardian provisions in your Will are no longer needed — your children can look after themselves. But there's plenty else to consider. Your now-adult children can step in as backup decision-makers on your Financial Power of Attorney, Health Care Power of Attorney, and as backup executor of your Will. It's also a good time to have your children set up their own basic Financial and Health Care Powers of Attorney, naming you (or each other) to act for them if needed.

If your estate plan included a trust for your kids, don't assume it's time to shut it down. Many parents choose to keep assets in trust well into their children's adult years — until 25, 30, or whatever age reflects real financial maturity — rather than handing over a large sum all at once.

As with any life change, the key is making sure the people named in your documents still make sense — and that your kids have their own basic protections in place too.

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Minimizing or Avoiding Probate

Probate avoidance is something many clients ask about, and it's worth understanding what it actually does — and doesn't do — for you. First, probate isn't always as bad as it's made out to be. But it's still worth minimizing where it makes sense. The main tool for avoiding probate is a revocable trust (also called a living trust). It's a more expensive planning option, so it's usually something I discuss with families who are more financially established, have real estate in multiple states, own property with siblings or a vacation home, or run a closely held business. I'll walk through the options with you and help you weigh whether the added cost fits your goals.

One important note: a revocable trust makes things easier for your family after you're gone, but it doesn't save on taxes or provide any liability protection. There are also less expensive ways to reduce probate — like retained life estate deeds — that may fit your situation better.

Typical planning in this area includes:

• Revocable trusts
• Advice on jointly held assets
• Updating IRA beneficiary designations
• Pay-on-death / transfer-on-death accounts
• Retained life estate deeds