Westport estate planning lawyers at Nirenstein, Horowitz & Associates can provide personalized help to people of all ages and with all family situations in making certain that their loved ones are cared for. While everyone needs to have a plan in place in case they become incapacitated or in case they pass away, it is especially important for parents who have underaged children to put solid plans in place. 
Westport estate planning lawyers at Nirenstein, Horowitz & Associates can assist parents in making certain that they have made effective use of legal tools to protect children in case something happens and the parents become unable to raise them to adulthood. To find out more about how our firm can help parents, give us a call today.
Why Parents Need Help from Westport Estate Planning Lawyers
Westport estate planning lawyers at Nirenstein, Horowitz & Associates will assist parents in tackling the two big issues that matter most when it comes to making certain that children will always be cared for and protected. Those two issues include choosing who will be the children’s physical guardian if parents cannot raise them until they become adults, and making sure that children are financially provided for if parents cannot be there to take care of them.
Choosing a guardian is important because parents want to make sure that a trusted person raises their children. Typically, if one parent passes away, then the other parent will raise the children. However, this is not always going to be the case in every circumstances. Sometimes, there is no other involved parent and in these circumstances it can be especially important to ensure that a guardian is named. There are also circumstances where both parents pass away, and then a third party needs to be put in charge of raising the children until they become adults.
Parents want to select someone who shares their values and their beliefs on parenting when they pick a guardian for their kids. Nirenstein, Horowitz & Associates can help parents to ensure they have used the right legal tools to name a guardian so they choose who cares for their children and so they can help to ensure their children do not become the subject of a custody battle if and when parents pass on before the kids are grown.
Parents also need to make certain that there is money available to raise the child to adulthood and to cover educational expenses. This is a major issue because raising children can be very expensive. Often, parents will need to purchase a life insurance policy in order to make certain that there is enough money available to provide care for the children and to pay for their college education. An attorney can help parents to determine how large the policy should be.
It is also important to determine how best to structure an inheritance that is left to a minor. Kids cannot directly inherit and begin managing money on their own, so the court might have to appoint a guardian for their inheritance to manage their money unless parents have used appropriate legal tools.
Parents can decide who manages their child’s inheritance by providing instructions in accordance with the Uniform Transfers to Minors Act. For parents who want the maximum control over what happens to assets, however, they will need to make a trust. A trust allows parents to specify a responsible person to act as the trustee and manage trust assets and to use a trust document to provide very specific instructions for what the money is to be used for and how it is to be provided to a child.
Getting Help from Westport Estate Planning Lawyers
Westport estate planning lawyers at Nirenstein, Horowitz & Associates can provide personalized one-on-one advice to parents who need help planning for their child’s future. To find out about the different ways in which our firm can assist you, join us for a free seminar . You can also give us a call at 860-548-1000 or contact us online to get your personalized plan for protecting your children underway.
Mr. Nirenstein is licensed to practice before the courts of the State of Connecticut and the United States District Court. He is a member of the Connecticut and Hartford County Bar Associations, and the Estate and Probate, Elder Law, Business Law and Real Estate Sections of the Connecticut Bar Association.
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