Estate Planning: A Responsibility That Never Goes Away

Elizabeth Edwards succumbed to cancer after a six year battle with the disease.  Throughout the fight she always said that her children were her top priority.

It is a true tragedy when young children lose their mother.  I see this too often in my practice and the lesson is that you are never too young to take care of your estate planning.

One of the primary parts of your estate plan is naming a guardian for your minor children.

Fortunately Elizabeth Edwards took care of her planning.  She told ABCNews.com that her children will go to John and then, if he died, to Cate, a plan that she said was written into her will.

Choosing a Guardian is part of Estate Planning

Choosing your guardians and writing your will is so important.  It is part of state planning a responsibility that never goes away. Every parent cares for their children while they are living, but the careful parent makes longtime provisions to insure for their care.

I had a client who came in to do her estate planning, but when we got to naming the guardians, she could not make a choice.  She has left her estate plan undone for the last eight years because she cannot make up her mind.  It is not easy to pick a guardian, but you can do a better job than a judge who does not know your family.  This part of the estate planning: a responsibility that never goes away that you need to take care of.

Elizabeth wrote in her book “Resilience” that she hoped to live long enough to see her three children graduate from school and hopefully have a grandchild.

“It scares me the most that there’s going to be a day that, you know, is likely to come before I wanted it to come where I have to tell these sweet children goodbye.”

Like Elizabeth, we all hope to see our children progress into the next phase of their lives, but it is our duty to care for them regardless of what happens to us. In my book Protecting Your Financial Future I give information to help you get your estate in order today.