If you’re raising a family in California and have an unexpected child, reviewing your estate plan and ensuring it meets your current wishes is essential. You will need to make changes to ensure this newest addition to your family is included.
Addeing a new beneficiary
With the birth of a child who comes significantly later than their siblings, you will need to use estate planning to update your beneficiary designations. In addition to taking this action, updating your life insurance policy to ensure your new child is listed can be critical.
Updating guardians
When there is a significant age gap between your last child and their siblings, it’s essential to examine your will and determine if you need to update the guardians you’ve chosen to look after your kids if you die or become cognitively disabled. Having a trusted relative or older sibling act as your child’s guardian may be the best choice.
Changing your executor
After having an unexpected child, you may want to change all your fiduciary appointments as well. These refer to the trustee, executor and individuals deemed to carry out your estate planning wishes. Adding the new child helps ensure all the children can work together in the future after becoming adults.
Consider using a pot trust to ensure fairness
It’s likely you’ve already paid for a significant number of expenses for your older children after an unexpected child enters your life. If you want to add fairness to the situation, consider using a pot trust. It’s managed by a trustee who determines how assets are distributed, which might be the fairest way to proceed after you die.
Going through the estate planning process after you have an unexpected child can help ensure your wishes are met. Making the required changes will provide peace of mind for all involved.
