Five Things to Think About After Having a Baby

Estate planning attorney Michael F. Brennan offers the following changes that new parents should consider making in their estate plan after having a baby: 

1. Consider guardians and trustees: When choosing a guardian, it is best to consider the physical location of the guardian, their lifestyle, religious, political and moral beliefs, and their financial situation. It is also very important to ask your potential guardian selection if they want to serve in that position. 

2. Review who should receive your assets: Go back and look at previous wills, retirement accounts, insurance policies, real estate titles, and TOD account designations to ensure they properly reflect any new wishes you might have after your child's birth. 

3. Think about education: With the rising cost of education, you might want to start setting aside money for your child's education.  Among other ways to accomplish this, you could set up 529 plans or create educational trusts for children. 

4. Retitle assets to avoid any unnecessary transfer delay: Transferring assets to a living trust can be a way to get around the potentially slow process of probate that is required to legally transfer many assets of a deceased individual. 

5. Gifts and taxes: For those couples whose assets are worth more than $10.5 million, to minimize tax liability, it is a good idea to discuss ways to reduce the value of the estate through trusts and gifting prior to death. 

See Alan Moore, 5 Changes to Make to Your Estate Plan When You Have a Baby, Serenity Financial Consulting, Feb. 25, 2013. 

Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (Professional Legal Marketing (PLM, Inc.)) for bringing this article to my attention.