In an earlier post we discussed the importance of choosing the right person or people to be your child’s Advocate when you are no longer around. Whatever plan you have in place for your child once you are gone will only work as well as the individual(s) you choose to implement it.
This post is to help you think through how to choose an advocate for your child or loved one.
To start, there isn’t a one right way to choose and structure your advocates. The primary criteria is that someone loves your child. Beyond that, we recommend our clients choose multiple people to act as advocates. But how this is structured can differ from family to family.
Some families prefer to have multiple advocates with differing skills sets. That way, each advocate can handle different aspects of the advocacy function – spreading the burden as it were. Other families choose have advocates work in succession, with one picking up when another is no longer able to serve.
Here are some other dynamics you will want to consider as you think through your choices:
- Does at least one of these individuals live in close geographic proximity to your child?
- Are they experienced and competent in dealing with basic legal and financial matters?
- Can they act in your child’s best interests without a conflict of interest?
- Do they have basic common sense?