Why Young Couples Should Have an Estate Plan

An Estate Plan That Secures Your Children’s Future

The first and most important reason young couples should have an estate plan is to protect their children. While it may be rare, you should plan for the possibility that your children could lose both parents, raising questions about who will care for them and how they will be provided for. An estate plan can offer your children two important protections:

1. You can establish a guardianship for your children. If you and your spouse pass away without selecting a guardian, a court will decide who will be responsible for your children. This decision will be made based on the information available to the judge and your children’s best interests. Unfortunately, this often results in the appointment of a guardian who is not the best choice; they may not be wholly willing to raise your children, be elderly or have significant health issues, or lack the financial means to raise your children how you would wish. It may also involve uprooting your children from their school, friends, and community. To avoid this situation, you can use your estate plan to choose a guardian you are confident will give your children the stability and opportunities they deserve.
2. You can create a trust to ensure their financial future. This allows for greater control over the management of your financial assets for the benefit of your children. You can specify what assets will be available to them and in what amounts for their education and formation. This can ensure that your children get the care they need when they need it without having to rely upon the court’s involvement.

If you have children and have yet to include them in your estate plan, we strongly encourage you to contact an experienced estate planning attorney as soon as possible.

Creating an estate plan includes more than simply writing a will that may not apply for many decades to come. An effective estate plan also covers important documents focused on present-day issues, such as advanced healthcare directives or healthcare proxies. If you are injured and unable to make decisions for yourself in the present, an estate plan not only covers how you want your property to be distributed when you pass but also who will have the legal right to make important medical and financial decisions if you are incapacitated.

It is natural to have questions about how an estate plan can benefit you and your family now, and also curiosity as to the costs involved in the process. A Pennsylvania estate planning lawyer from Goodwin Como, P.C. will explain how we can help and what estate planning packages are available to suit your unique needs.

For Young Couples, Health Care Proxies are Immediately Important

We understand that the idea of making a list of items and their intended recipients upon your death is not necessarily something you feel a need to complete at the immediate moment. That can make sense for many young couples for a variety of reasons, but one aspect of estate planning that no young couple should go without is decision-making concerning healthcare decisions in the event of an accident.

Accidents are unpredictable, and if you are incapacitated from one, an advanced healthcare directive can identify which life-saving treatments you agree to. If you are injured but incapacitated, a healthcare proxy provides your designated loved one to make medical decisions on your behalf in support of your best interests.

Future Asset Distribution Planning is a Key Aspect as Well

One of the key purposes of creating an estate plan is to provide your loved ones with stability in the event of your passing or incapacitation, in addition to financial support. The creation of an estate plan includes the determination of how your assets will be divided upon your passing, generally through a will, which must be executed in a particular manner to be legally enforceable.

While a will allows you to determine where your assets go upon your passing, there are alternative ways to distribute your assets that can be done while you are alive, like trusts. Wills and trusts are both helpful and important estate-planning tools that can be put to work in a package that fully covers your future planning needs alongside any present issues that might emerge.

Discuss Options on Your Case with Goodwin Como

Young couples might not feel as though they have established sufficient assets to create a will just yet. However, establishing a healthcare proxy and an advanced healthcare directive as soon as possible ensures that their wishes will be protected should the unexpected happen. To learn how we can help through your risk-free, cost-free initial case review, give us a call at 724-438-1616 or visit our site to schedule a consultation.