You have a young family – what now?

A new baby is an incredibly significant milestone in your life!

It’s not about estate planning. It’s about plans for you and your family’s life as well as the things you have earned and saved. It’s a plan for your life – wherever you are now!

Young family planning has some unique things to cover. These include taking care of kids and property to help them if parents are not available.

What is a Young Family ?

From my perspective, when talking to a family about their planning questions, I consider a young family to be one that has children at home – that may be 6-weeks, 6-months, 6-years, 16-years or, in some cases in our world today, 26. There are special considerations for parents to know and to implement depending on the age of their child or children. At the core, young children who tragically lose their parents need to have someone appointed by a court to oversee their well-being. In addition, property and assets need to be protected in order to be available for the children. They also need to be protected from a caretaker’s whimsy or legal issues – divorce, creditors, lawsuits – that could entangle the deceased parents’ assets with the caretaker’s assets.

As a parent, we all know we need to do something!

Unfortunately, what, when, how, and with whom are not questions with clear, easy to find answers. Until now! 
Fortunately, I have two sources to create this information:

  • personal experience as a parent of two, now adult, children, and
  • legal experience gained from studying and working with hundreds of other parents, with unique situations.

Please use this information to gain an understand of how to address your “something.” I hope this provides answers and gives information for you to make educated decisions for your family’s plan.

There is no single, cookie-cutter solution for every family. Your situation is far more unique from your siblings, neighbors and friends than you may realize. For example, a Will is not THE answer, despite what we have all been told for years.

Your next steps:

Videos That Address Young Family Specifics

Use the videos and downloads below to begin to better understand your Young Family plan needs!

Guardianship

Why does a young family need to prepare for guardianship? What, when, and how guardianship happens is addressed in this video.

Who should be a Guardian?

A Guardian is a court-appointed, legally responsible person. There are considerations to discuss as you think about who you would nominate, should the need arise.

Property Protection Planning

If we can’t be here for our children, we want to make sure our accumulated assets provide for them. Your plan can protect assets, with oversight, so you know the assets will be protected for your children’s needs.

Common Trust – A Planning Tool

For some, you may need a plan to keep all the assets in one place with a person in charge who can prioritize the children’s use based on age or need differences.

RG Skadberg is a father of two daughters, Allison and Lauren, and husband to Ann for nearly 30-years. They moved to Valparaiso nearly 25-years ago, but his hometown, Lafayette is still close to his heart.

At 47 years old, he entered law school with the intention to get inside the law in order to be able to better serve people, who like him, find themselves confused by the lingo, how law applies to us, and how to find clear solutions to our legal issues. In addition to time with family, he enjoys golf, Purdue sports, and, constantly feeding the entrepreneurial spirit in himself and others.

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