If you are one of the 26 percent of parents who has named guardians for your kids, you’ve probably made one of these six common mistakes.
1. You may have named a couple to act as guardians and you have not indicated what should happen if the couple broke up or one of the partners in the couple died. This means your kids’ could end up in the care of someone you wouldn’t really want.
2. You may not have named enough alternates to serve if your first choice cannot serve.
3. You may have considered financial resources of potential guardians when deciding who should raise your children. Your guardians do not have to also be financial decision makers for your kids. Your guardians are the people who will be in charge of your kids’ emotional, spiritual and physical well-being, not necessarily their money. It’s your responsibility to leave enough money behind to take care of your kids either through savings or life insurance. You can name someone other than your guardians to take care of that money if the best choice guardians are not “good with money” people.
4. You may have not provided for someone to take care of the money you are leaving behind and that means your money could go outright to your kids at 18 — unprotected!
5. You very likely only named long-term care guardians and did not make any arrangements for the immediate term care of your kids if you were in an accident; this means your kids could be taken out of your home and into the arms of strangers until the authorities could figure out what to do.
6. You probably did not exclude anyone who might challenge your decisions or who you know you would never want raising your kids.
To avoid these six common mistakes, please contact Lisa S. Golshani who is a personal family lawyer designated by the Family Wealth Planning Institute who focuses her practice on legal planning for the needs of parents.
Lisa’s office is located in Valencia, California and she can be reached at 661-977-4214. Learn more about choosing guardians for your kids and even complete free legal documents at www.KidsProtectionPlan.com .