Did you know July is National Sandwich Generation Month? You may have never heard of it before, but if you care for aging parents and young children, you are part of this growing demographic.

At our Portland, Oregon estate planning firm, we work with people on a daily basis who are feeling the pressure of being a Sandwich Generation Kid. Common struggles include having to pay for mom or dad’s long-term care, shielding mom or dad’s assets from nursing home facilities, and cleaning up a financial or legal mess in the absence of proper planning.

If you are facing these same struggles right now, there are a number of planning steps you can take to ease the legal and financial pain.

Here are my top 5 suggestions:

• Have the tough conversations with mom or dad about their wishes now while they are still active and in good health. Find out what type of long- term care they want (or don’t want) and be sure to document their wishes accordingly.

• Find out what type of estate planning documents your parents have in place (i.e. will, trust, power of attorney) while there is still time update them. If their medical directives were created pre-HIPPA, have them reviewed by an attorney to make sure they still apply.

• Sit down with your parents every 2-3 years to review their estate plan. Make sure their wishes are the same and that they still approve of the people they chose to make important end-of-life decisions on their behalf.

• Consider placing all of mom or dad’s assets into the right kind of trust so they stay protected and out of the equation if your parents ever need to apply for Medicaid benefits or go into a nursing home.

• If your parents have named you in any legal ‘helper’ roles, make sure you understand exactly what’s expected of you, where the documents giving you these rights are and how to properly use them before tragedy strikes.

If you want to get started on your estate plan, read about our estate planning services and schedule an appointment.

To your family's health + happiness.

~Candice N. Aiston

P.S. Want to get started slowly but surely, naming guardians for your kids? Check out our Guardian Plan kit.

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Candice N. Aiston is an Legal Planning Attorney for Estates + Businesses in the Portland, Oregon area. She helps people to prepare for a lifetime of security, prosperity, and guidance. If you would like to receive her free reports, please visit http://aistonlaw.com/ to sign up. Follow her Facebook page for daily planning tips: https://www.facebook.com/aistonlaw/.