Will Your Kids Be Protected?
The lawyer at the Encino Law Offices of Gerald L. Kane is forward-looking, problem-solving, and goal-oriented. One of attorney Gerald L. Kane’s goals is to make young families of small children aware of the importance of planning for the care of minor children.
Mr. Kane welcomes young families to his successful practice of personal and business estate planning law. He provides complimentary, no obligation initial consultations. Call 818-905-6088.
Protecting Minor Children
It is always heartbreaking when young parents pass away. Compounding the tragedy is when the children have to go to foster care because a temporary guardian has not been named for them.
Mr. Kane highly recommends the state’s Kids Protection Plan and makes it his practice to recommend it to his younger adult clients with children. A traditional estate plan that merely names permanent guardians for minor children does not protect them from a temporary stay with Child Protective Services in case something happens to you and the authorities have to be called. Nor do these kinds of plans protect your children from a custody battle if someone you wouldn’t want to raise your children challenges the guardians you have designated.
Mr. Kane’s plan, meanwhile, provides for nominated guardians to provide permanent care for your children if you’re no longer able to do so. It also introduces “first responders” to the process and utilizes them to the fullest extent. These are people who can quickly take custody of your children and care for them until permanent guardians arrive.
Even if you have a valid, binding will or a trust in place, your minor children are not completely protected unless your family has this plan. If you are a young parent of small children, Mr. Kane urges you to take up this important subject with an experienced estate planning attorney right away.
Your Family Protection Concerns
You should have a simply stated, concise yet precise contingency plan for your babysitter or child care professional to use in the event something happens to you. Those closer to you, such as certain family members and friends, should be designated and assigned legal written authority to oversee your children’s short-term immediate care.
Prepare written instructions for those who have been named “first responders,” so they can instantly attend to your young ones’ needs, especially when it comes to medical needs. Your plan should also strictly insist that only the people you’ve mentioned should be allowed to care for the children, in a manner approved by you.
Finally, you should draw up a document to insist on the certainty that anyone who might oppose you, or disagree as to the children’s care, would not be allowed to challenge your decisions. A separate written plan can protect physical and financial assets and property left to the children, in case of a protracted, expensive legal battle over those items and funds.
If you fail to address each of these concerns thoroughly and explicitly, your children could be at risk of winding up in the custody of Child Protective Services, being raised by someone unfit to do so, and without clear guidelines for their care, if something happens to you. You need the peace of mind that Mr. Kane’s Kids Protection Plan provides.
Lawyer Serving Encino and Los Angeles County
Mr. Kane has committed more than 20 years to serving the estate planning needs of the San Fernando Valley and Southern California and can produce just the right Kids Protection Plan for your loved ones’ future. Call 818-905-6088 today to arrange your no obligation initial consultation. Weeknight and Saturday appointments are available.