https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Fri, 24 Apr 2026 18:00:56 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/guardianship-spin-off#post-2867724 Sun, 20 Jan 2019 15:30:25 +0000 youboots 2867724@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We have a significant life insurance policy- I think we ‘gift’ the family a certain amount as a lump payment. I’d say $1,000 a month per child until they are of graduation age- but assuming college and other expenses would be in a trust. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/guardianship-spin-off#post-2867597 Sat, 19 Jan 2019 20:36:23 +0000 2littlepumpkins 2867597@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I don't even know who we could ask. If something happened to one or the other of us, the survivor could do ok. But both, I don't know. It has even crossed my mind that I don't want to travel long distances without them in case something happens to both of us. If you have friends who would be willing to go from three to five, that is an amazing blessing. (And it is surely an honor to be asked by a close friend too!) For us, we don't have friends that close, and our only siblings that our kids know don't have kids and don't want kids at this point. So I just don't know. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/guardianship-spin-off#post-2867584 Sat, 19 Jan 2019 18:58:27 +0000 DesertDreams88 2867584@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@periwinklebee: I didn't know until 1.5 years ago either! The spouse gets a benefit and so does each kid, up to $3127 for the family. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/guardianship-spin-off#post-2867569 Sat, 19 Jan 2019 16:01:20 +0000 periwinklebee 2867569@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I didn't even realize there was a social security death benefit. I really need to get on top of this, including the financial side of things... ugh... </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/guardianship-spin-off#post-2867539 Sat, 19 Jan 2019 12:43:27 +0000 DesertDreams88 2867539@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@LadyDi: @MamaBear87: yeah it's just our relationship - my friend and I are both very budget-minded, Dave Ramsey style. My main concern is I know having 5 kids would be a lot to handle in terms of housework and childcare so I wanted to make sure our money would cover convenience costs like housekeeping, babysitting, etc. My friend is a SAHM and her husband is a teacher in AZ, so.... not exactly making bank. Thankfully, 2 of her children are covered in terms of healthcare and basic expenses bc they were adopted from foster care; so they will get a continuous subsidy for them until age 18. And thankfully by doing the math I'm pretty confident the SS death benefit will cover them, so now I know to lock up the insurance money in a trust. </p> <p>@LadyDi: I didn't know a trust could be broken down into chunks like that, thanks for the info! I'll have the look up the projected cost of a 4 year college. *eyeroll at the whole college $$ system*</p> <p>@Mamasmiles: Thank you for the information. I'm very sorry that your husband passed away. :heart: True, we keep all our important paperwork in a certain place but our family and friends don't know that, so we'll tell them. My mom (executor) also wants to write down all my account numbers and such and that makes me really nervous. I wrote down all the main companies, but acct #s seems a bit much. Ugh. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/guardianship-spin-off#post-2867534 Sat, 19 Jan 2019 11:27:16 +0000 looch 2867534@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@DesertDreams88: Then I would consider a payment towards the property taxes. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/guardianship-spin-off#post-2867532 Sat, 19 Jan 2019 11:15:13 +0000 MamaBear87 2867532@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@LadyDi: we actually also have friends as guardians if anything were to happen to us and our conversation was similar to yours with parents. They are well off financially and while our kids would have life insurance that would take care of them that did not come into the equation. It's all spelled out in our trust but we haven't gone over that part in detail with them. I think it totally depends on the people and relationships how the convo goes </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/guardianship-spin-off#post-2867529 Sat, 19 Jan 2019 10:54:10 +0000 LadyDi 2867529@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We chose DH's parents temporarily because they would be both physically and financially capable of caring for our kids, although I would not say they are "young" grandparents. In the next couple of years we will switch guardianship to DH's sister. When we set up our will a few years ago she wasn't married yet and was just starting her career so we didn't want to put the burden on her until she and her boyfriend were married and more established. That's a really impressive and detailed breakdown of cost! Although I guess the conversation is different with friends. With DH's parents is was more like, "You'll take our kids, right? Right."</p> <p>For the trust, our will breaks it into three "chunks" that they will have access to at age 18, then the next third at 22, then the final third at 25. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/guardianship-spin-off#post-2867527 Sat, 19 Jan 2019 10:42:56 +0000 Mamasmiles 2867527@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>It doesn’t take very long to get the death benefit. Maybe a month or less. Once you have the death certificate and other required paperwork you just take it to the social security office and they get it set up. My husband passed at the end of December 2017 and I had the money automatically deposited into my account sometime in January 2018. You might want to make sure the guardians you chose know where all your important documents are like birth certificates. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/guardianship-spin-off#post-2867519 Sat, 19 Jan 2019 09:49:22 +0000 DesertDreams88 2867519@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@looch: Their house is 5 bedrooms and they fully don't expect to move even with adding 2 kids. They are on track to pay off their house in the next 10 years or so, around ages 40-42.</p> <p>Didn't think about the increased vehicle insurance. Thanks for that! Imagine the excess would cover that.</p> <p>The excess is for whatever else is needed, or for savings. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/guardianship-spin-off#post-2867501 Sat, 19 Jan 2019 06:46:18 +0000 looch 2867501@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Why didn’t you include things like insurance on vehicles and a percentage of mortgage or rent in the expenses? Maybe asked in a different way, what is your expectation of what will happen with the $1000 per month excess? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/guardianship-spin-off#post-2867438 Fri, 18 Jan 2019 17:52:56 +0000 Sams Mom 2867438@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>No idea about SS but a friend passed away just over a year ago, and the process to put her minor beneficiary's money into a trust was actually very easy. The minor's mother refused to provide necessary paperwork and signature to take on the money (thankfully), so the insurance company provided the paperwork to put it into trust. </p> <p>It all seemed very straightforward. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/guardianship-spin-off#post-2867430 Fri, 18 Jan 2019 17:37:53 +0000 DesertDreams88 2867430@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We just finalized our guardianship this past weekend. We asked our closest friends after much discussion and apprehension about family members. Since many of you seemed to have similar issues on the other thread, I started this spin-off. </p> <p>We want guardians to be there for the long term for our kids, and the grandparents only have about 10 more good years left. I'm honestly really surprised by how many of you chose grandparents! Maybe you all have a bunch of young parents? The grandparents will be temporary guardians for us, but not permanent ones. </p> <p>As for siblings, 2 people are no-gos, and BIL/SIL don't really know our kids at and adding 2 more to their family would rock. their. world.</p> <p>Anyway, our best friends know our kids really well. They have 3 kids ages 3-7, two of whom are adopted, so they know what it's like to add a non-bio kid to the family. Our kids are ages 1 &amp; 3. I figured that financials would be the biggest issue, and I know my friend is a budgeter. So when we asked them to be our guardian, we also gave them a projected budget to show that the kids would be well taken care of and not a strain on their finances. We included housekeeping, babysitting, and pool service in the budget, to ease the idea of having 5 kids. </p> <p>Our cars will be left to them, so they can sell them and use the $$ to buy a bigger car. Our life insurance will be put in a trust for the kids' college expenses. The social security death benefit should cover all their living expenses until age 18. I found this number by logging into my Soc Sec account online.</p> <p>Anyway, if any of you are undecided on things, or too afraid to ask certain people, maybe spending some time thinking about financials would be helpful? I know it's a big thing to ask of friends, but I think showing that at least the financials helped the process. My friends said they were honored and they want to be a family that opens their home to children in need. </p> <p>Do any of you know how easy or difficult it will be to put life insurance in a trust until age 18? Or how easy or difficult or long it is to get the Soc Sec death benefits started?</p> <p>[attach=5393/19/pljtme.349x418.Capture.JPG] </p>