No one likes to think about what will happen after they die, especially if you have children relying on you, but it is necessary for us to prepare for the worst when it comes to our children. Hopefully, your preparations will be unnecessary, but should something happen to you, you should everything in place possible to provide for your family if you no longer can.
Take out a life insurance policy
You can take out a single policy or look into life insurance for married couples to pay out in the event of your death. This will help minimise the financial impact on your family whilst also helping to keep up with mortgage payments or make up for the loss of your income. Your surviving partner will likely want to keep the day-to-day running normally as soon as they can, keeping your children in their routine and reducing disruption as much as they can – having some extra cash will help them with this. A life insurance policy can also go towards paying for your funeral, an important event for grieving children.
Make a will
Many people resist writing a will until the last minute and if something unexpected happens, this means you will likely be left without one. A will is important to specify what will happen to your children and any provisions you have made for them. For example, your children may be entrusted to the care of your parents, but your parents might live on the other side of the country meaning your children will have to leave everything behind and move away. Make sure you consider all the influencing factors when making the plans for your will.
Find a home for your children
If you do not have a plan in place for your children’s living arrangements, then this can cause a huge amount of stress for both your children and your other loved ones. Social services may look at putting your children in care unless your family makes private fostering arrangements or take the children on themselves – which can be very costly as private fostering is not a paid endeavour and your family may be spread all over different cities. If you do not want people to be scrambling around or your children to be uprooted and moved around, you need to make a specific plan for their care and make this clear in your will.
Get your paperwork in order
The problem with going digital is your loved ones will struggle to gain access to your records and accounts after you die. What an executor needs is a file of all your main bits of paperwork and an overview of your financial affairs. You should also include a list of accounts and passwords. Make this easy to find so your family is not left to tear your house apart trying to piece it all together. It might seem like a lot of work, but it will be a significant help to your children once you have gone. We recommend you keep all these records in a safe and give your next of kin the code or a spare key.