You’re at home, and so are the kids. You’re out of work, or with any luck you’re working remotely. So is your spouse. So, are the kids. What if one of you gets sick? Do you self-isolate at home? Do self-isolate somewhere else? Will you be hospitalized? Either way, your spouse will take care of the kids and your house.

What if your spouse then gets sick?

Who takes care of the kids? Who manages the house?

What if you can’t make your own medical decisions, but your spouse can’t decide for you either?

Do you have a plan? Have you thought it through? Who’s your back up? Do you have more than one?

You’re going to want more than one person as a backup within your family’s plan. You need to be cared for, as does your spouse. Your children need care and protection. Your family’s assets need protection and management. Each of those separate roles needs to be filled and the person asked to help already has their own family, job, house, and who knows what else. Perhaps sharing these responsibilities with more than one person, or even several people, is the better choice.

Every role to be fulfilled will be assigned in each of your health care proxies, durable powers of attorney, your family’s revocable trust, and your emergency guardianship proxy for your children. These documents need to be in place before your family might need them.

At a time of potential crisis such as this pandemic, it seems this type of plan would possibly benefit many people. In addition to consultations, it would include:

• Two pour-over wills
• Joint revocable trust
• Two durable powers of attorney
• Two health care proxies
• Two HIPAA releases
• Emergency guardianship proxy for children
• Trustee Certificate
• One deed for the primary residence
• One declaration of homestead

This plan can usually run approximately $2,500.00 – $3,500.00, plus registry recording fees, for a married couple. With so much uncertainty caused by the shutdown, I am offering this particular package, during the shutdown, for $2,000.00 plus recording fees, which I expect to typically be about $325.00. Contact the office here and mention this article if I can be of assistance.