THE STATE STEPS IN!

This is the final newsletter in our series on the six common mistakes parents make when naming guardians for their children.  MISTAKE #6.  YOU MAY NOT HAVE NAMED ENOUGH ALTERNATES TO SERVE IF YOUR FIRST CHOICE CANNOT SERVE.

            Deciding on who should be a guardian for your children is a difficult question.  Often you will struggle just to find one person who you feel might do an adequate job.  Unfortunately, if that ideal person should die before you, then the State will name a successor guardian, if you have not done so.  We recommend naming at least a second and even a third alternate guardian, to avoid this problem.  Of course, an ideal solution is to have an ongoing relationship with your estate planning attorney, including an annual estate planning “check up”, so that your plan may be revised in a timely manner in the event of an unforeseen occurrence such as the death of the person you have named as primary guardian for your children. 

            This concludes our series on the Six Common Mistakes Parents Make When They Are Naming Guardians For Their Children.  Avoiding these mistakes is easy.  When you work with us – we specifically focus on the needs of parents – like you!

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            We are pleased to announce that we will offer a series of “Lunch and Learn” workshops on a quarterly basis in 2010.  The first “Lunch and Learn” will be from noon to 1:00 p.m. on Thursday, February 25, 2010 in the Learning Center in our office.  We will discuss Advance Healthcare Directives, Healthcare Surrogates and Living Wills.  These sessions are designed to discuss a topic of general interest in an informal setting.  Clients in the annual maintenance program will be given first opportunity to attend and if there are remaining seats, we will open the workshop up to other newsletter subscribers.