Estate Planning for Single Parents

Every estate planning conversation eventually focuses on the children, whether they are still minors or are grown, established and independent.

When I advise families on estate planning, I first work to determine my clients' overall perspective about their children, and what they feel are the children's capabilities and limitations. Parental expectations and their evaluation of their child's potential to meet those expectations often determine whether they decide to limit access to funds and how long those limitations should last.

For single parents with a minor child, the stakes are perhaps even higher. When one member of a couple dies, the children generally do not have to leave their home, school and community, but when a single parent dies, a child may leave that entire