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Everybody’s life and financial situations are different, which means decisions regarding estate planning will vary from person to person. The variations in estate planning will be based upon the circumstances of each individual case in Florida or in any other state. This means taking into consideration any dependents with special health and medical needs. One couple is now dealing with this as they attempt to create an estate plan which takes into consideration their disabled daughter.
The couple is currently designing their estate plan and would like to make sure that the husband’s daughter from a prior marriage is taken care of. The 75-year-old father and husband is particularly worried about his daughter maintaining her disability benefits. This can be an issue since disability benefits are usually tied to one’s income level. The father is worried that the inheritance left to the disabled daughter will cause her to lose disability benefits.
Along with ensuring disability benefits, the father will likely also want to consider who will be left to care for the disabled daughter if he is injured and becomes incapacitated. This can become quite a problem if he intended his current wife to obtain guardianship, but the court decides to give guardianship to his ex-wife. One way to avoid this problem is through a legal document known as the “declaration of guardian.” This estate planning instrument allows one to choose who will be the guardian of a dependent in the case of incapacitation.
However, it is also important to have a strong understanding of applicable rules and regulations in Florida when creating these legal documents and designing an estate planning strategy. This will enable a person to avoid many common mistakes. It will also help to avoid various unnecessary expenses while minimizing costs such as the estate tax.