On this episode of this podcast, in our estate plan deep dive series, Shannon McNulty, New York Lawyer gets into the next critical area of your estate plan: guardianship of children. Though we hope you will never need a guardian to take over the care of your children, you don’t want your children to be left in a worst-case scenario without a plan for who will become their guardians in the event you become incapacitated or pass away.
The Legality of Guardianship
Shannon discusses the roles that a guardian will take on, what you need to document, and the additional step of identifying a temporary guardian so that you have someone who can step in immediately if needed. She clarifies what you will declare in your will in terms of care and finances and what should be communicated to those who agree to be guardians.
Shannon also shares a bit about what happens in the event a guardian does need to step in and identifies some of the considerations you’ll want to make so that your child doesn’t end up in a worst-case scenario.
The Nuances of Guardianship
Shannon also discusses some of the more nuanced situations related to guardianship such as what to do when you’re a single parent with sole custody, how to handle the situation if the guardians you want to choose live outside the United States, or how to handle guardianship when you have a child with special needs. Choosing a guardian is a big decision and Shannon helps clarify how you can go about this and what you need to do so that it’s done legally.
Resources mentioned
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