Today’s Boston Globe Magazine had a column regarding some of the struggles parents go through when deciding when and how to make their estate plans. It seems like all this father needed was a little nudge from his daughter. If your children can’t talk yet, or haven’t brought up your estate plan, don’t let that hold you back.
My 5-year-old daughter, Hazel, was snuggled up on my lap not too
long ago, and as I marveled at how quickly she’s growing up, I found
myself telling her, “You know, even when you’re a grown woman, with
your own family, you will always be my little girl.” She clearly liked
the notion and replied, “And you will always be my daddy, even when
you’re dead.”That Disney moment turned Tarantinoesque in a hurry. But it also
made me realize that if a kindergartner has figured out that I’m not
immortal, it was time to draw up my first will and testament. For 11
years of marriage, we’d been walking a tightrope without a net: Where
there was a will, there was a wait. At first there were no assets, at
least until we’d opened all the wedding gifts, and no kids to provide
for should we die unexpectedly. By the time Hazel was born, any assets
we had accumulated were quickly eaten up by the expense of a new baby.
But with the birth of Teddy, our second child, the purchase of a home,
and the establishment of college funds, we could put off the will no
longer.(click the above link to keep reading.)
Source: Boston Sunday Globe, April 30, 2006
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