Boston Globe Magazine Column About Wills
Today's Boston Globe Magazine had a column regarding some of the struggles parents go through when deciding when and how to make their estate plans. It seems like all this father needed was a little nudge from his daughter. If your children can't talk yet, or haven't brought up your estate plan, don't let that hold you back.
My 5-year-old daughter, Hazel, was snuggled up on my lap not toolong ago, and as I marveled at how quickly she's growing up, I foundmyself telling her, "You know, even when you're a grown woman, withyour own family, you will always be my little girl." She clearly likedthe notion and replied, "And you will always be my daddy, even whenyou're dead."That Disney moment turned Tarantinoesque in a hurry. But it alsomade me realize that if a kindergartner has figured out that I'm notimmortal, it was time to draw up my first will and testament. For 11years of marriage, we'd been walking a tightrope without a net: Wherethere was a will, there was a wait. At first there were no assets, atleast until we'd opened all the wedding gifts, and no kids to providefor should we die unexpectedly. By the time Hazel was born, any assetswe had accumulated were quickly eaten up by the expense of a new baby.But with the birth of Teddy, our second child, the purchase of a home,and the establishment of college funds, we could put off the will nolonger.(click the above link to keep reading.)
Source: Boston Sunday Globe, April 30, 2006