It’s almost hard to believe that another school year is over and summer break is here. That means it’s time to figure out what exactly to do to keep the kids entertained for three whole months. Hopefully, along with several other activities like camp, clubs, and sporting events, a fun-filled family summer vacation is on the schedule. In preparation for the summer vacation, there are a few considerations to address and decisions to make just in the unlikely event that something unexpected happens on that vacation.
Choosing Someone to Care for the Children
For a parent, one of the most (if not the most) important decisions to make is to decide who will take care of their children if something happens while on vacation. Sometimes while on a vacation, a parent, or both parents, become injured or unreachable while their children are at the hotel room. Then the question becomes, what will happen to the kids until their parents are back. Will they stay with other relatives who are there, will they stay with friends, is there someone readily available that they can call to take the kids in case of an emergency. In these situations, other family members or close friends may step in to help make decisions, but wouldn’t it be great if the parents already created a pre-vacation plan that addresses these matters. Also taking it a step further and contacting the named individuals to make sure they’re available to act if needed. This type of planning helps to ease the mind and will make the vacation even more enjoyable because the worry about who will take care of the children if something happens while traveling will be addressed beforehand.
Planning for Medical Emergencies While Traveling
In addition to being prepared by choosing someone to step in to care for the children, choosing someone to take care of the parents if they’re involved in an accident while on vacation is also important. Medical emergencies happen more often than we’d like to think. Sometimes those emergencies can be more serious than not, ultimately putting us in a position where we can’t make medical decisions on our own. That’s why making sure that someone has been chosen to make decisions for us while we can’t is necessary. In fact, naming someone plus three back-ups in case the original is unavailable to step in is even better. Contacting them and making sure that they know that they’ve been listed and what their role will be if needed will make this process much smoother as well.
Choosing Someone to Handle Financial Matters
In addition to medical emergencies while on vacation, someone may need to step in to make financial decisions if an accident were to happen. If a parent was in an accident and couldn’t gain access to accounts to pay for either medical treatment, the hotel room, rental car, etc., they could have someone step in and make those financial decisions for them if they were selected and informed beforehand. This could be done either through an individual document or through their revocable living trust. The most important thing here is that they’ve selected someone they trust immensely and that person has been notified of their duties if they’re needed.
Reviewing Your Estate Plan Before Vacation
One final thing to do before going on family vacation is to make sure that your current estate plan is current. Check and make sure that you have the correct people selected as your executor, trustee, subsequent trustee, power of attorney, guardians, etc. and make sure that you have their most up to date contact information. Having their current phone number, address, and email address will help authorities be able to make contact with them. Also, check to make sure that the beneficiaries are the ones you want and nothing’s changed there either. Because we offer a free review of a client’s plan every 3 years, I like to tell them to schedule that free review in the late Spring or early summer before they go on vacation so that we can review the entire plan from top to bottom to make sure it’s exactly what they want.
A Little Preparation Can Make Vacation Less Stressful
As a parent, being prepared for the unexpected makes time spent with family that much more enjoyable because there’s a lot less stress to manage. Make having a plan in place before leaving for summer vacation one of the items on the to-do list this summer. It’ll make the vacation that much better.