When you are a single mother (or single parent), you have a huge set of responsibilities on your shoulders, and preparing for the unthinkable is one of them. In this post, we will look at estate planning for single mothers and the steps you can take to protect your children.
Guardian Designation
First and foremost, you have to ask yourself who will care for your children if you are no longer around. If you do not assert your choice, the court will decide if you were to pass away while they are minors.
To prevent this, you can name a guardian in a will. The court would have to approve your choice, but they would do so unless there are serious mitigating circumstances.
Financial Support
Estate planning for single parents will address the financial part of the equation as well. Granted, a lot of younger single parents do not have a great deal of money saved. Fortunately, life insurance is the solution and term life is quite affordable.
Money Management
Obviously, children cannot handle their own money and make financial decisions. To account for this, you can potentially establish a revocable living trust. While you are living, you would be the trustee. As a result, you would maintain control of the assets that you transferred to the trust.
Your children will be the beneficiaries, and you name a successor trustee to assume the role after your passing. When you’re gone, the trustee will administer the trust on behalf of the minor children.
We should point out the fact that you can make the trust the beneficiary of the insurance policies. This is a permanent solution because a living trust can be the ideal estate plan centerpiece through every life stage with ongoing adjustments.
Another possibility is a testamentary trust, which is a trust that is contained within a will. It would be created after your passing, and the trustee would follow instructions that you recorded in the trust agreement.
Advance Directives for Health Care
People of all ages become incapacitated every day due to injuries sustained in accidents. There are also those who cannot communicate because of devastating illnesses.
To account for this possibility, estate planning for single parents should include an incapacity component. It starts with a living will, which is a document that is used to state your life-support preferences.
Medical-related scenarios could arise that are not related to life-support utilization. To be prepared, you can name a representative in a durable power of attorney for healthcare.
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was enacted to protect patient privacy. A provision contained in it prevents doctors from sharing medical information with anyone other than the patient.
With this in mind, you should add a HIPAA release to give your healthcare representative access to your healthcare data.
On a side note, these protections extend to people as young as 18. As a parent, you should urge your young adult children to sign one of these forms so you can speak freely with their doctors.
Financial Matters
If you have a living trust, you can name a disability trustee to assume the role in the event of your incapacity. A durable power of attorney for property can be used to name an agent to manage property that is not held by a trust.
Take Action Today!
Now is the time for action if you are a single mother without an estate plan. You can call us at 707-769-9975 to schedule a consultation at our Petaluma, CA estate planning office, and you can use our contact form to send us a message.
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