Wills Protect Children's Interests
By NEALE S. GODFREY
October 31, 2005
Your will may be the most important document you ever create
for your children.
Not only does a will determine what happens to your financial
assets, it outlines how you wish your children to be cared for until they're old
enough to be on their own.
In some states, children become wards of the court if their
parents die without a will. And more than half of American adults don't have a
will, according to legal resource Martindale-Hubbell.
If you don't have a will, write your wishes down immediately.
Sign and date your will, have it notarized, put it in a safe place and give
copies to a trusted relative or friend. There are books and Web sites
where you can get information on how to write a will.
You can reduce your legal fees if you know the answers to a
few simple questions:
 | Who will be the executor, the person who sees that your
interests are carried out? You should pick someone you trust: a friend,
family member or lawyer. |
| Consider introducing your children to the executor so if
something happens to you, they will already have met the person who will
outline their future. |
| Who will get custody of your children if you die?
|
| How will the children be provided for financially? Check
to see if your assets and insurance policies are sufficient for the rearing
and education of your children. There may be things that you haven't thought
of; is your chosen guardian's house big enough to accommodate them? If not,
you may wish to provide money to help solve this problem. |
| How are your assets to be divided? Do you want the
children to receive their inheritance when they reach maturity or do you
want to space the payments out? |
Reassure your children that they'll be taken care of if
anything happens to you and your spouse. They already understand that you
carefully choose who will look after them when you are not there after school or
out for the evening. Explain that a will is just an extension of that kind of
planning.
Even children as young as 4 may have wondered about this. From
the time they are quite small, children hear terrible stories about what happens
to boys and girls without parents. Think of Cinderella, Harry Potter and Lemony
Snicket's Baudelaire orphans.
With grade school and teenage children, you can go into more
detail about the will and perhaps even tell them where it is located. Children
under 7 are probably too young to listen to detailed explanations of wills. They
may need to be reassured that the will probably won't be used until they are
grown up.
It should be reassuring to both you and your children to know
a plan is in place. Make sure they are comfortable with the choice of guardian,
that they understand where they'll sleep, whether they will still have their
pets and what school they will attend.
Once you have a will, be sure to review and update it
periodically. You'll know it's time to dig it out of your safety deposit box:
• If you haven't looked at it in five years.
• If life circumstances change; the birth of a child, a
divorce, a death in the family or if your financial profile changes.
• When estate tax laws change.
• When you move to another state, since laws vary from state
to state.
• When you buy property in a different state, since it may be
subject to different laws.
Neale S. Godfrey is a former bank president and expert on
family finance.
(Note that you can create your Will, Power of Attorney and
Living Will online at
http://www.PartingWishes.com,
http://www.USLegalWills.com and
http://www.LegalWills.ca).
For More Information Contact:
PartingWishes.com
Email:
support@partingwishes.com
Internet:
http://www.partingwishes.com
