Child's Protection Planning

There Are 9 Easy Steps to Protecting Your Children & Your Assets …

While the nightmares of having no plan in place are scary, it’s easy to put in place a plan that will give you peace of mind.

Here are nine steps you can take right away to protect your children…

• STEP 1 - Choose the friends or family you’d want to raise your kids with your values if you were in an accident. Legally document your choice of at least 3 friends or family members (in first, second, third order) as long-term guardians for your kids.If you are having a hard time choosing the right people to serve as guardians, go to www.kidsprotectionhouston.com and be guided through an interactive 3-step process that will give you the confidence of knowing you made the right choice.
   
• STEP 2 - Choose local friends or family (within 20 minutes) who your kids know, love and trust that would be able to go to your house immediately and comfort your kids and keep them secure (until your long-term guardians could arrive and take over).
   
• STEP 3 - Legally document your choice of shortterm guardians.
   
• STEP 4 - Give the short-term guardians you’ve chosen the legal documentation they’ll need if you are in an accident and make sure to tell them what to do if called upon.

• STEP 5 - Instruct caregivers to call the short-term guardians if you don’t come home. Carry a Family Emergency ID Card in your wallet at all times that identifies you as a parent with minor children and has the names and phone numbers of your short-term guardians.
   
• STEP 6 - Tell your long-term guardians what to do if called upon and where to find your long-term guardianship documents. Leave your long-term guardians specific instructions about how you want your kids raised and the values, insights, stories and experiences you want to leave for your children.
   
• STEP 7 - Be sure to exclude anyone you know you would never want raising your kids so they could never challenge your decision.
   
• STEP 8 - Make sure you’ve left behind enough financial resources so that whoever is raising your children will have immediate and protected access to your assets and raising your children will not be a financial struggle.
   
• STEP 9 - Work with a trusted advisor to determine exactly how much savings or insurance would be sufficient to support your family if something happened to you. The decision as to what to purchase must be made with an advisor you absolutely trust.

And, most importantly, make sure that the financial resources you do leave would be available to your guardians and your children and would be totally protected. You will want to designate a trust as the beneficiary of your life insurance so it doesn’t get pulled into the court process and be unavailable when it’s most needed.