Who Ensures Income, Support, Maintenance, and Education for Your Child Should Something Happen to You?

Attorney Robert Schaller understands that your child is dependent upon you for everything.  Love, comfort, care, clothing, crib, food, diapers, and physical protection are essential components of good parenting.  But so is financial protection.

Good parenting requires you to remember the importance of protecting your child’s financial future should something catastrophic happen to you. Nobody plans an accidental death – that’s why it’s called an accident. But accidents do happen, and good parenting requires you to protect your child with advanced legal preparation through the Schaller Law Firm’s “New Parent Child Protection Plan.”

Advanced estate planning today can give you peace of mind – knowing that if something catastrophic were to happen to you, your child would enjoy the best possible level of income, support, maintenance, and education. The Schaller Law Firm can give you peace of mind by drafting a last will and testament containing an imbedded “testamentary trust,” which provides for a trustee to manage your accumulated assets (bank and brokerage accounts, cars, house, insurance, education funds, etc.) on behalf of your child until your child reaches adulthood and is able to make independent financial decisions. Your assets are protected, and the testamentary trust ensures your assets will be properly managed and used to provide income, support, maintenance, and education for your child should something happen to you. This is a key component of the Schaller Law Firm’s “New Parent Child Protection Plan.”

Choosing Your Financial Trustee:

Ask yourself the following questions:

Who should manage your assets for your child’s protection? Your family? Your spouse’s family? Who should make financial decisions for your child as you would? Who will ensure that your child will always have a roof over its head?  Who will ensure that money is reserved for your child’s education?  The answer to these questions will have a profound impact on your child’s life should you die prematurely. 

Choosing a trustee to manage the “testamentary trust” is not only your parental duty, but it is a problem solver. If you cannot raise your child, you don’t want your surviving family members and in-law family members fighting over who should spend your money.  You don’t want an epic court battle fighting over control of your financial assets – with the asset value squandered by litigation fees expended in the fight.

By drafting your last will and testament with a “testamentary trust,” you get to nominate who you feel shares your values and who will do the best job providing income, support, maintenance, and education for your child should something happen to you. This is one of the most essential tasks any parent should do, and you should do it as soon as your child is born.