Remember the 1970′s American Express Traveler’s Cheques with Karl Malden – “Don’t Leave Home Without Them.”  Disaster can easily strike if you were to lose the cash you were carrying.  Credit cards were not so easy to use back then, so your choice was cash or some kind of check, so before people would leave on a big trip – business or vacation – they would head down to the bank or other agency to purchase American Express Traveler’s Cheques.

It is amazing how many clients come in to see me to get their wills and other estate planning documents done just before they take a big trip – usually out of the country.  And it seems to be something they almost put off to the last minute.  Why is this event a trigger?  Well, you never know what’s going to happen.  Watched any airplane disaster movies lately?

All joking aside, the decisions to be made in preparing a will and other estate planning documents are very serious and have very serious consequences for the families of those who make the wills.  Parents need to carefully consider who should raise their children if two parents should meet a simultaneous demise (die at the same time).  I always use the example of a couple being out on their Friday night date and a drunk driver crosses the road and takes the couple out, killing them both at the same time.  Should we never go out for fear that something will happen?  No, but we should be prepared if life, or death as the case may be, throws us that curve ball.

So I tell young couples that may not have much in the way of property, and perhaps mostly even have debts, that the most important purpose their will serves is to allow them to decide who should raise their child(ren) should be both “check out” at the same time.  Consider it carefully.

Parents should make sure they each have some life insurance on their own lives, enough to take care of the other spouse and the child(ren) should one of the parents die.  In the simultaneous death scenario, it makes it very important to state who will take care of that money for the children, who may not be the same person(s) designated to raise the children.  The simplest way this is usually done with a will is by a mechanism called a “pour over trust provision” in a will.  This creates a trust at the time of death of the testator (the person making the will) but not before, so you don’t have to worry about managing a trust during your lifetime.  This tool works really well for people whose estates are less than one million dollars.

Most people don’t have a lot of stuff that they need to worry about giving away when they die.  But who will raise the kids and take care of their money is REALLY important.

Please comment, add, refute, clarify or inquire regarding this posting if you are so inclined.  I would love for this blog to become a helpful dialogue and resource.  So remember, when to getting your wills and estate planning documents done, “Don’t leave home without them.”