Single Parents Need Proper Planning After Divorce To Avoid Guardianship
Do you know someone who is divorced with a minor age child? Perhaps you know someone who has a minor age child and their spouse died? What both situations have in common is that single parents need proper planning to avoid a guardianship for themself in the event of an unforeseen incapacity or disability.
Many people who get divorced only concern themselves with having a new Last Will & Testament prepared in order to ensure their ex-spouse will not inherit their estate but a Will is not going to help them while they are alive.
As an experienced guardianship attorney, we helped two families become guardians of their adult relatives who did not have Durable Powers of Attorney or Designations of Health Care Surrogates in place. Both incapacitated individuals were single moms whose ex-spouses predeceased and were raising young children. Both individuals had medical emergencies (burst aneurysm) with no warning and no time to prepare. While we could not have avoided a court guardianship for the minor children we could have avoided guardianships for the parents if proper planning had been done.
If you know someone who has minor age children suggest that they consult with our law firm about creating:
- a Durable Power of Attorney;
- a Designation of Health Care Surrogate;
- a Declaration of Pre need Guardian for a Minor.
By taking the time to plan families can save time, privacy and thousands of dollars. Most of all they can have peace of mind.
