Safeguarding Your Children’s Future With Trusted Estate Planning Across Southern California

Everyone knows that children are our future. With the proper love, guidance, and care, our children can go on to lead even happier and more productive lives than we did. Everyone wants their children to be cared for under any circumstances, especially if we’re no longer around to ensure their well-being ourselves. Although most people do not like to consider the possibility of prematurely pre-deceasing their children, this is a possibility for which every parent should prepare. That’s why estate planning with your minor children in mind is imperative.

Estate planning for your minor children is a way to ensure they will be cared for under any circumstances, and it allows you the opportunity to ensure your wishes for their future are followed accordingly. This not only includes appointing guardians for your children, but ensuring they will be taken care of financially and that they will have access to all of your assets at the appropriate time. With careful estate planning, you can rest assured your children will be taken care of regardless of whatever tomorrow may bring.

What is Estate Planning?

Estate planning is a legal strategy for ensuring your wishes are carried out after you are no longer around to make them known yourself. While many people are familiar with the concept of wills, a will is only one component of an estate plan. Estate plans also often include trusts, advance care directives, and other legal documents pertaining to end-of-life care. When it comes to estate planning for your children, wills and trusts are two of the most important components to consider.

A will allows you to establish certain basic parameters regarding your estate. For example, a will is used to name an executor and assign guardianship of minor children or disabled adults. In the absence of a will, a person is said to have died intestate. Dying intestate requires that your estate enter a lengthy legal process known as probate. While every estate must go through probate, it is usually a simple and brief process as long as a will is present.

Without a will, a probate judge must step in to assign an executor. The executor must then go through the time-consuming process of settling an estate. Part of this process involves determining child custody. If there were no will to assign custody, your children’s fate may end up in the hands of a probate judge. This can potentially lead to their being given to a distant family member who might as well be a stranger. Under other circumstances, it could mean your children being placed into “the system”. This is why estate planning is vital for every parent.

How Can Estate Planning Help My Child?

There are two critical choices commonly faced by parents of minor children. First, who will take care of my minor children, if orphaned, and, second, who will manage their inheritance?

If you are separated, divorced, or never married to the surviving biological parent of your shared minor children, then that parent will continue to be their guardian, absent a court-proven case of unfitness. Nevertheless, you will want to make prudent choices regarding guardianship should your minor children be orphaned.

While every family situation is unique, here are some general practical pointers to consider when selecting guardians for your minor children:

• Select guardians who share your faith, values, and life priorities, and already have an established positive relationship with your minor children.
• Consider, when selecting a married family member, appointing the family member only, in case your family member predeceases or they divorce.
• Make sure your legal plans provide for the compensation of the guardians, or at least that the inheritance is available to cover all legitimate expenses incurred when rearing your minor children; and
• Obtain permission from the selected guardians before appointing them in your legal instruments. That is only meet and right.

Great care must be taken when selecting a financial fiduciary to administer and distribute the inheritance. Simply put, a fiduciary is an individual or institution legally responsible for managing the financial affairs of another. Fiduciaries are held to the highest standards of care and loyalty in this role.

How Does an Estate Plan Take Care of My Child’s Financial Future?

So, who will manage any inheritance left upon your death? What if you and the other biological parent are divorced or were never married? Even though he or she may rear your minor child or children to adulthood, would you also want them to control the inheritance you leave behind, too?

There are three basic options when it comes to financial fiduciaries, each with its unique advantages and disadvantages.

Option 1 is the most common. Here, you appoint trusted family members or friends. On the upside, they likely know the strengths and weaknesses of your loved ones, plus they may not charge much, if anything, to oversee the inheritance. On the downside, they may be busy with and distracted by their own life and financial responsibilities. Also, they may find it difficult to say “no” to an irresponsible heir.

Option 2 finds you appointed a professional fiduciary, such as an institution (e.g., a trust company) or an individual (e.g., your CPA). Interestingly, the upsides and downsides are the opposite of Option 1.

Door #3 is what I call the Pro-Am approach. You combine Option 1 and Option 2 for the best of both worlds. In short, the family appointee knows the strengths and weaknesses, has an “abominable no-man” to help preserve family relationships when the minor child asks for a Ferrari, and is not bogged down with investments, accounting, tax, and legal details. Instead, the professional fiduciary shoulders (and is rightfully compensated for) the day-to-day management of the inheritance, playing the heavy when necessary.

What Should I Do if I Want to Estate Plan for My Child?

Most parents do not like to think about dying while their children are still minors. However, failure to plan can result in your child being placed into foster care with no financial resources and no path towards the future. Estate planning offers you the opportunity to secure your child’s emotional, psychological, and financial well-being, no matter what may happen. That’s why if you or a loved one is the parent to minor children, you must build an estate plan for them with the help of Robert H. Brumfield, P.C.

Robert Brumfield and his compassionate legal staff know that estate planning with a minor child in mind can be a difficult experience. They also know it’s one of the most sure-fire ways to secure your child’s safety and happiness should the worst occur. He approaches all estate planning with compassion, sensitivity, and understanding.

At the Law Offices of Robert H. Brumfield, we know the best approach to life is to hope for the best, but be ready for the worst. An estate plan is the ultimate insurance policy against the worst happening to you and your family. If you’re the parent of a minor child, don’t hesitate. Contact the Law Offices of Robert H. Brumfield, P.C. today at 661-384-6940 to schedule your free consultation.