Single Parent Estate Planning
Single parents don’t think about planning for their death. When many people think of estate planning, they think it is something that elderly people must do. Every adult should address estate planning, especially if you have minor children. This is also important when you are a single parent and have no co-parenting relationship with the other parent.
Single Parent Estate Plan
Generally, if you become unable to care for your child because of a medical reason, your child’s other parent would have full custody. And, full control over decisions for your child. These decisions include inherited assets from a single parent. The following are some frequently asked questions that many single parents have for a guardianship attorney.
What happens to any assets or property a child inherits from a single parent?
Your child’s other parent will control inherited assets until your child turns 18. It is critical to give instructions on who you want to handle your child’s assets. Most single parents choose a trusted family member or friend to oversee these assets and often designate the same person to be their child’s guardian. Estate Plan to Protect You Child From The Other Parent
The next step is to set up a trust to protect the assets for your child. You name a trustee. It is common for the trustee to be the same person named as the guardian. The trustee controls the assets of the trust and decides how to use them to support your child.
Although your child can legally inherit and take control of assets or property when they are 18 or older, you can put instructions in your trust so that the trustee is in control until your child is older and more mature to handle their own finances.
Do I still need to choose a guardian?
Although in most situations the other parent would have complete custody of your child should you pass, there may be situations where you should still name a guardian. For example, there are many situations where a single parent has sole custody of the child. Substance abuse and mental health problems affect a parent’s ability to provide adequate care. Child abuse by the other parent and if a parent is not available because they are in prison means they can not care for your child. If you have not had a will drafted that names the person you want to have legal guardianship of your child should you die, then it will be up to the courts to decide and it could end up being someone who you would not have chosen.
It is best to talk to an estate planning attorney for further information and advice on guardianship.
Lisa Derr
Lisa Derr is an experienced Divorce and Family Mediator with three offices in east central Wisconsin. She started the family mediation practice in 1995. Lisa earned her BA in psychology from the University of Wisconsin in 1984 in four years despite a serious car accident that involved a 2-month hospital stay. She began practicing law in 1987. For the first 8 years of her career, Lisa litigated personal injury and divorce cases. But she was frustrated with the tremendous financial and emotional cost of divorce trials. Contested hearings inhibited reconciliation and healing for thewhole family. She started the Beaver Dam divorce mediation practice in 1995 and with her partner, Cassel Villarreal, expanded to Oshkosh and West Bend ten years later.