Seniors you definitely need an estate plan. Okay, so that statement might feel like a no brainer, but humor me for a few sentences.

I mentioned in my last post, Choosing a Guardian Part 1, the difficulty caretakers face when thinking of planning for the future of their legal dependents, specifically who will care for them and what resources are available to them after death. These considerations often are further complicated when the children you are caring for, are not related to you by blood. These folks are not your biological relatives, but they depend on you and are what I will call your “Dependents by Grace.”

When thinking of creating a simple estate plan, that is creating a last will and testament, health care directive and a power of attorney over your finances, one of the most daunting considerations is who will care for your children or other legal dependents.

The truth is one of the hardest things to think about for a parent, when considering an estate plan, is who will take care of my children? The feeling is often amplified when you are the parent of a child with a disability, or disabilities. A supplemental needs trust can be a great estate planning tool to protect the resources you leave them, and the ones you don’t.

The truth is the changes we are seeing in the intensity and locations of severe life altering weather is no different from everything else in our lives; Changing in ways that are expected and known to us.