Building a Legacy: Supporting and Providing for Loved Ones Beyond Biological Connections

This month, we celebrate not only National Grandparents Day on Sept. 10 but also Kinship Care Month, recognizing relatives, members of tribes and clans and non-related extended family members who provide protection and nurturing for younger family members. 

As a community, we have historically cared for others who are not biologically our children. Sometimes they are our children’s children or cousins or simply a person we know who needs protection and nurturing. There does not necessarily have to be a legal or biological connection. That is noble and kind. 

As estate planning attorneys, it is a joy to see that love is not restricted or denied based upon the rules of parentage, but it is given, many times, liberally to whoever may present the need.

It is also devastating to witness when there has not been strategic planning to care for those who are loved but do not fall within the natural structure that the court recognizes. 

When there is no strategic plan that complies with the structure of the law, there is very little opportunity to support those whom you have supported during your lifetime after your death. I have worked with families where the grandparents have taken responsibility for their grandchildren because the parents were unfit. When the grandparents passed away, because there was no legal action taken, the children received the inheritance, irrespective of the fact that they were not capable of managing the resources effectively, and the receipt was to their detriment. In addition, the grandchildren who were cared for by the grandparents and also cared for the grandparents as they aged, were not legally in a position to receive any inheritance.

Read the full post on the Washington Informer site here.