Remote Estate Planning During Covid-19
What do I need if I get sick? What if my child with disabilities gets sick? What about my non-conserved adult child with disabilities? What if I get sick and can’t make decisions for my child?
Parents, I hear you and I feel your pain. First and foremost - do not panic and do not try to do everything all at once. This is for your sanity and for your child’s. You are likely dealing with job instability, becoming a therapist and a teacher, and your regular household duties - in addition to the increasing anxiety that is coming from news stories right now.
Focus on the Basics Right Now
Developing a full estate plan for your child with disabilities can be a process. When I do this, I help parents plan to use their estates to enhance and enrich the life of their special needs child while also maintaining the child’s enrollment in essential public benefits programs (this is called special needs planning). Planning considerations also vary depending upon your age, your child’s age, competency, and other family needs and supports.
At this time, I am advising all parents who have no documents in place to - at minimum - be focused on advanced care directives and basic wills, as my trust packages will take a longer amount of time to execute.
Our office is able to do signings remotely using mobile notaries. Because of Covid-19, witnesses needed for some documents at this time can present us with some challenges, which we are working through with individual families. But it can be done to give you peace of mind in case you are unable to make decisions for your child.
If parents opt for more than the basic package, we certainly can complete a full estate planning package in steps - meaning as part of a complete package, we can execute basic will and advanced care directives within a few days and then complete the full trust package and more in-depth special needs planning over the next 4-6 weeks. This is a modification of our regular practices - where all of the documents are completed together - so that families have some peace of mind during this time.
For more information on estate planning during this time, please click here.
For tips on creating an estate plan that’ll benefit your child with special needs, please click here.
Do you have a power of attorney? Click here to learn more on federal privacy law compliance. If you have questions about state compliance, please see below to contact our office.
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If you need immediate assistance, please call the office at 323-977-4477 or click the link below to set up a meeting with our Client Services Coordinator: