As a parent, you want to ensure your children are cared for, even after you're gone.
If you're a parent of a child with a disability, having a succession plan can become even more critical. It can also give you peace of mind that your child will get the care they need in the future.
Critical Aspects of Succession Planning
If you have a child with a disability, there are a few key things to consider when creating a succession plan, including:
Estate Planning
An estate plan creates various legal documents that outline your wishes for what you want to happen if you die. Or if you lose the legal capacity to make your own decisions. As a parent of a child with a disability, it's an excellent way to help protect your children in the future. It also helps to make sure they're cared for according to your wishes.
Organising a will is typically the first step. This can relate to both financial and care arrangements for your child. It's also important to consider a few other things too, including:
Powers of attorney
Life insurance
Superannuation
Special disability trusts
Seeking professional advice can help ensure your child is protected should something happen to you. A professional can also recommend tax-effective strategies, helping you maximise funds for -
Care
Housing
Medical expenses
and more.
Care Arrangements
Making your intentions clear for alternative care arrangements is important. It can help to ensure your child receives the same quality of care they're used to receiving from you.
Arrangements can include -
Nominating a guardian for your loved one
Formalising this process, so there are no issues in the future.
Preparing care arrangements can help ensure your child receives the support they need to live a happy and healthy life after you've gone.
Arranging Special Requests
Within your will, you can include specific requests concerning your child, such as:
Accommodation - for example, you may want your child to continue to live in the family home
Specific physical needs or assistance
Different levels of support
Social interaction
Hobbies or interests
Health care requirements
How to Start
If you're the primary carer of your child, thinking about not being there to provide the quality of care your child needs can be scary. If your child relies on you, it may not be easy to consider not being able to continue to provide the care they need.
Although it can be overwhelming, it's essential to plan for the future. Talking to other people within the disability community can be a great way to start.
Ask people what they've done, and how they've navigated the process and get recommendations on where to begin.
Getting everything together in one central location is also helpful. For example, documenting your child's likes/dislikes/hobbies/care needs can make it easier to develop a plan for the future.
How Ability8 Can Help
As parents of a child with a disability we initially designed our app for succession planning. Our goal was to create one central location to store vital information and essential details. The goal was to give parents like us peace of mind and confidence that their child would receive the same level of care for years to come.
If you're interested in checking out how our Succession Plan works, sign up for a free trial today. We have three plans to choose from, and all come with a free 30-day trial period.
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