THE LESSONS OF ISRAEL WAR ON
ESTATE PLANNING FOR MINORS
By: Lenore S. Davis, Esq.
Lenoredavis.com
At the end of the year, many people like to get their financial affairs in order, with one eye to tax season. While we are thousands of miles away from Israel, our heart is with Israel, and we can learn from the lessons of Israel when estate planning for minors. So many children orphaned…
Many people wait until they are on the verge of retirement, or unwell, to plan for their estate’s future. An estate consists of a person Assets and Liabilities and Family. Many young families fail to plan thinking that it is unnecessary because they do not have a home or a lot of money, or they are young and will surely outlive their children’s minor years.
What parents fail to recognize is the impact dying without a Will will have on their children. The big issue is that children under age 18 cannot legally inherit from their parents, they cannot open bank accounts without their parents as custodians and cannot write checks without their parent’s consent.
What happens when parents die without a will which addresses the future of their children is tragic. In order to access money of those who died, one has to go to court to get an adult, usually parent or sibling, appointed as Administrator of the estate, or the representative of the estate for purposes of finding assets, gathering them paying expenses and distributing the remainder to heirs.
When children are involved, it takes a long cumbersome process and makes it longer and more burdensome. The court will hire an attorney who is a stranger to the estate to investigate the assets and liabilities of those who died, and really, who wants a stranger to go through the details of the estate. For the honor of having this stranger review the estate, the estate will have to pay thousands of dollars to the attorney for her investigation and report to the court. It adds expenses to the estate and many more months to the process.
Additionally, the court will have to determine who is best to have custody of minor children. One often suggested person is the older sibling of the minor child, but many times, if that older child is still in school, doesn’t have a fixed job or income, or doesn’t live near the minors, the court will not accept these siblings as proper guardians of the minors. An alternative might be one set of parents, but if they are aged, unwell, don’t live near the minors, not of the same religious background, the court may reject these candidates as well. The easiest solution is for the will to name a guardian for the children which will carry heavy weight with the court, but, again, it is ultimately up to the court to determine who it sees best to be a guardian. This gets even more complicated when the parents fight to gain custody of the children and malign other parents as unfit.
The lack of a will by parents for the benefit of minor children is egregious. It will cost a lot less money for a will and a lot less aggravation drafting a will than to have to go to court to argue who should be in charge of the money for children and custody of the children, which do not need to be the same, but may be the same.
It is simpler to put one’s head in the sand and hope to remain alive until the children mature, but it is a grave disservice not drafting a will which deals with issues for minors. It will provide parents with peace of mind, and lighten the burden for surviving relatives to map out what is to happen with minor children in the event both parents die or become unable to care for their children. If you have further questions, or you want a free consultation, don’t hesitate to reach out to me at Lenoredavispc@aol.com or call (516