Any time a family adopts a child and grows their family, it is important that their estate plan be modified to reflect these changes. Adopting a child from overseas can present unique issues that should be addressed during the estate planning update process. One such issue that may be important to your family is to ensure that your child maintains a connection to his or her culture of origin. Fortunately, an update to your estate plan can help ensure that this occurs.
Direct Your Guardian to Expose Your Child to Their Culture of Origin
If your daughter was adopted from overseas, you may have taken great care to ensure that she feels connected to her country of origin. As you modify your estate plan to appoint a guardian in the event that you pass away, you can include provisions that direct the guardian to continue that effort. You may wish to create a trust specifically for this purpose. The trust can hold money that is set aside to pay for classes, education, or travel to China. You can also direct and set aside funds to pay for any specific counseling or behavioral therapy that you feel may be helpful in helping your daughter to continue to adjust to her new home. Without updating your estate plan to include these provisions, you are leaving your child’s guardian with fewer guidelines to follow. Even if you do express to the guardian the goal that your child remain connected to her culture of origin, if you do not make specific provisions to allow that to happen, such as setting up a trust, it may be difficult for the guardian to carry out.
Any time a family adopts a child and grows their family, it is important that their estate plan be modified to reflect these changes.Our office has helped many families modify their estate plans to address any number of unique needs. We encourage you to view our client testimonials page today to learn more about how we can help.For more info contact us at our office