Parman & Easterday elder law attorneys can provide you with advice on the steps that you will need to take to ensure your family is provided for and protected if something happened to you. One of the key steps that may be necessary for you could involve the purchase of a life insurance policy.
Parman & Easterday can assist you in determining if life insurance is something that you should purchase. We can also help you to make smart plans for how the death benefit should be paid out if you do buy a life insurance policy. For example, sometimes it is smarter to have the policy payout to a trust over a period of time rather than paid in a single lump sum directly to the beneficiary.
You should give us a call to talk with attorneys who can give you the advice on life insurance that you need to make the right choice for you and your loved ones.
Do You Need Life Insurance?
Life insurance policies pay out a death benefit when you pass away. Life insurance, therefore, is purchased to provide protection for the people who you leave behind. There are different types of life insurance, including whole life insurance — which is more expensive but which also includes an investment component — and term life insurance.
For most people who need life insurance, buying a term life insurance policy is a simple and cost-effective way to make sure loved ones are taken care of no matter what happened. You may need life insurance if:
- You have any family member depending on your income. If your aging parents need financial help from you, or your spouse needs your paycheck to cover the mortgage, you should have a life insurance policy to pay out benefits to your loved ones so they don’t experience a reduced quality of life due to financial problems caused by your death.
- If you have young children: Children are expensive. If you have kids, you will likely want to buy a life insurance policy so there is money to provide for your children if something happens to you and you cannot raise them to adulthood. Life insurance proceeds could also make it possible for you to pay for your child’s college education, even if you are not around.
- If you have a disabled child: If your child isn’t going to become self-supporting or if you want a substantial amount of money available to provide for your disabled child during the rest of his life, after you are gone, you will need to make sure you keep a life insurance policy in effect to cover those lifelong expenses.
- If you provide important services to anyone: Many people assume that they do not need life insurance if they are not earning an income. For example, a stay-at-home parent may not feel purchasing a life insurance policy is worthwhile. However, the services that you provide add value and it is likely someone would need to be paid to provide them if you weren’t there to offer them. You should strongly consider buying a policy if people depend on you for anything important.
- If you may need coverage in the future: You may not think you need life insurance if you do not have children or other relatives currently depending on you. However, you may have someone who needs your services or income later in life. Buying a policy when you’re young and healthy means you’ll have a more affordable policy and you won’t have to worry that you could get sick and become uninsurable and thus unable to get the coverage your family needs.
Parman & Easterday will assist in determining if you need a life insurance policy for these reasons or for any other reasons specific to your situation. The way in which you structure the death benefit is also important and we can help you to develop a strategy. For example, if you simply give a large sum of money to a child with a disability, he may not be able to manage it and it might cause a loss of access to government means-tested benefits. This could be avoided through the use of a special needs trust.
Since founding Parman & Easterday in 1985, Larry has led over 1,000 free, community-service education programs and helped more than 10,000 Oklahoma families go from putting off their estate plan to getting it done. His goal for every client is the same: to become the person their family calls "the one who took care of everything."
Larry is the author of three books: The Straight Shooter's Guide to Estate Planning; Estate Planning Basics; and Guiding Those Left Behind in Oklahoma. He served as Oklahoma's Secretary of State and Secretary of Commerce, and his firm is the only member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys in the state.
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