As a single parent, your children are most likely front and center of every single thing you do. But there are three vital questions every single parent needs to ask themselves seriously to provide everything they can for their children. Two less pleasant, one more positive.

YOU are ahead of most people and have actually taken the time to address the problem and have written a will.

Well done – far too many people do not have wills prepared, whether they are avoiding the topic or just never quite get round to it as there is always tomorrow. Until there is not anymore.

MANY of us will use a Power of Attorney at some point in our lives – either acting for someone else or for ourselves. But it is important to understand what a Power of Attorney document actually creates legally, for both parties involved, and the fact there are different kinds with different implications.

When you hear the words “estate planning” your mind probably goes immediately to will-writing. And that’s not an incorrect assumption, your will is one of the main components of your estate plan and a central focus of this important legal document. However, there is more involved in estate planning that just writing down a list of how your assets get distributed after your death. There are several other elements that go into a good estate plan and you’ll want to include all of them to have a fully comprehensive document that describes your wishes for your wealth and your care in the event of a worst-case scenario.

Your estate is made up of everything you own—cash, investments, business interests, property, and all of your personal belongings—and, upon your death, those items will be bequeathed in some manner. An estate plan is your opportunity to prescribe that manner by dictating which and how much of your assets are passed to whom. The biggest aversion to estate planning is the fact that you have to look your own morbidity squarely in the face. Having come to the unavoidable conclusion that you will pass away at some point, it becomes a smart, albeit not always pleasant, decision to create an estate plan.

As adults in Ohio, we enjoy many freedoms to live and do mostly as we please, within the limits of the law. But with that freedom come many responsibilities, too – taking care of our affairs and business and looking after ourselves. And for most of us, that is simply part and parcel of everyday life. But sadly, there are times that these day-to-day tasks can simply become too much for individuals to do for themselves.