Can we talk about estate planning?

[mrsmuq]

DH and I have living wills and guardianship papers we drafted ourselves, but with two kids now, greater equity in our house, and owning our own business, I think we need to have an estate planning attorney draft new documents for us.

I did a quick search as to the top legal documents recommended for parents with minor children. They are:

• Guardianship
• aTrust
• Living will/advance directive
• Power of attorney for financial purposes
• Power of attorney for healthcare purposes

Do you have any/all of these things in place? Why or why not? If yes, did you do it yourself or pay someone to?

[ashiscute]

H has a co worker who is a lawyer who is in the process of drafting ours now. We do not have anything complex (upside of having less money) so we felt comfortable doing it with him for now. Down the road we may feel the need to upgrade to something more extensive with someone more knowledgeable.

We have selected my parents as guardians and given them power of attorney with H's as a backup. We also a have a living will in place for each other.

[tincupchalice]

We are planning to get a trust set up. It'll be complex enough that we'll pay someone to do it. But we haven't done it yet. We really need to.

[mishy2010]

So far we only have a will that designates who is gets the kids and who is in charge of our money. We need to just meet with a financial planner to discuss what we should be doing monetarily.