As a single parent, your plate is already full. You're juggling work, childcare, school activities, and maybe even a bit of "me time" (if you're lucky!). It's understandable that estate planning might not be at the top of your to-do list.
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As we welcome a new year, it's an opportune time for Portland, Oregon parents to consider one of the most important decisions: naming guardians for your children. Life can be unpredictable, and while we hope for the best, it's essential to be prepared for any eventuality. Setting up guardianship ensures that your little ones are cared for by individuals you trust should the unexpected occur.
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Choosing a guardian for any child is a weighty decision, but when that child is disabled, the stakes are even higher. Parents need to ensure not only a safe and loving environment but also one that caters to their child's unique requirements. An experienced Portland, Oregon estate planning lawyer can offer some vital considerations to bear in mind.
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As local kids prepare to head back to school, parents will soon be inundated with paperwork, including the task of filling out routine school emergency cards that request the full names and contact information of other adults who can be reached if the parent is unavailable.
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Throughout their lives, parents go to great lengths to ensure that their children are protected. The desire to keep one’s children safe and well-positioned in life is so strong that it often leads to worries about how children will stay protected when their parents are no longer alive.
Taking the time to have a properly prepared estate plan will give you confidence that your children will be taken care of when you die, whether they are young kids or grown-ups.
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We are about three months away from summer vacation, which makes today a perfect day to get started with your estate planning. If you get started now, you can be finished in time for summer. One of the worst stories about a failure to do estate planning that I’ve ever heard happened when the family was on vacation. There was a car accident, and both parents were killed, but the kids survived. The parents hadn’t even named guardians, and their family members fought over the kids for 18 months while the kids lived with foster parents. I know that sounds terrifying, but it’s all stuff you have to power to avoid, even if you can’t avoid when and where you are when your estate plan is needed.
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Going home to see family during the holidays gives you a great opportunity to talk with them about Estate Planning. I always tell my clients that communication about estate planning is half the battle, but sadly, it is the most overlooked part of the process. I thought I would put together a quick video series before the holidays that gives you some tips on how to approach these conversations as well as how to organize your thoughts around figuring out what information is important to learn, discuss, and share. This is a three-part series. The first part was about Healthcare, and you can read it here. The second part was about Assets, and you can read it here. This article and video are Part 3, Kids.
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From time to time, I get a clients who has too tough of a time deciding on who the right guardian for their kids will be. In some scenarios, the best solution for that is a Guardian Panel. A Guardian Panel is a group of people who are named to make a decision together about who the guardian should be and/or where the children should live, at the time that the parents are unable to care for the children any longer. Anyone can use a Guardian Panel in their estate plan, but there are a few specific situations in which it especially makes sense.
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It’s Back-to-School time, which means that you have to fill out those “emergency contact” forms again. It’s important that you fill them out properly, naming emergency contacts who have the legal authority to care for your kids and who know what the plan is and who they should contact if something happens to you, the parent. I thought I’d put together some tips for parents who are filling out these forms.
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A huge percentage of parents who haven’t done their estate planning yet are stuck on who to name as guardians for their kids. Here in Portland, Oregon, so many people have moved here from other places, and so they might not have any family in town, and they might have moved here to get away from a family or cultural dynamic that they don’t want their kids to be a part of. This makes choosing guardians difficult.
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