Vacation Without the Kids? Wait, Don’t Forget To…

Debrina Washington — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 03:28:15 +0000

Appoint a Temporary Guardian and Execute a Temporary, Limited Power of Attorney (POA), of course! Oh, and don’t forget to lock all of the doors.

If you managed to convince someone to watch your little ones, while you secure yourself some much needed adult time, first of all, Congrats! Secondly, you should execute a temporary POA, which is effective for up to 6 months in New York.

What should you include

In the event of a medical emergency, specify all authorized forms of treatment, as well as treatments that are not authorized. If your children are minors and school-aged, the POA will permit a temporary designee to make educational decisions. Your temporary agent will need to present the POA to school officials or health care providers, upon request.

Single Parents

If a court of law has determined that both parents should equally share in the parental responsibilities including educational or health decisions, a temporary POA, in favor of another person will not be valid, unless both parents have consented to the temporary relationship. NY GOL §5-1551.

Small Business Owners

You should execute a temporary POA to allow another person to make emergency financial decisions (i.e. bank account withdrawals) for your business, during your absence.

Conclusion

Last piece of advice parents, RELAX! Your little darlings are probably doing whatever their little hearts desire. That’s right folks, that includes jumping on furniture, eating loads of candy, staying up late… you get the picture. Regardless, it’s a small price to pay for a little piece of mind. Ahhh, a girl can always dream.

Temporary Guardianship—Questions A Single Parent Might Ask Regarding Choosing a Guardian?

Debrina Washington — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 15:46:20 +0000

Let me say up front that my journey down the road of preparing for my son’s future, in the event of my untimely death, was wrought with trepidation. You see I’m one of those people that begin contemplating my own immortality each time I hear of a close family member who unfortunately, met an untimely death. As a single parent, it’s especially scary. I mean, who could possibly take care of my child in a manner in which I see fit. (Probably no one because I’m overbearing and too much sometimes, even for my own self)!

The journey of choosing a guardian seemed as familiar to me as the journey of choosing appropriate godparents for my son. There were plenty of times I forgot all about it and moved on to something else because seriously, who wants to think about leaving their child. I thought about my friends and family being in different stations of their life. Some have kids and husbands, others have kids and no husbands, others have no kids and no husbands, and then others are just a hot mess. But I digress.

I recently had the pleasure of viewing Alexis Martin Neely’s video clip entitled “Choosing Guardians for Your Kids,” from her website Wear Clean Underwear Book. Alexis mentioned that parents should appoint a temporary (interim) guardian who lives within 20 minutes of your home, to allow time for a permanent guardian to get to the children. I discussed Alexis’ advice with several of my friends and the biggest question raised regarding temporary guardianship was:

What if I don’t know someone I trust who lives within 20 minutes of me?

This is an important question. You see, for me, it wasn’t an option to move away from my family. I mean, it wasn’t an option. My family lives within a 1 mile radius of each other and it’s accepted that even moving to another borough will be unacceptable with my Grandmother, the matriarch of the family. Nevertheless, others do not have the same family pressure, so they’ve made the brave decision that I’m too chicken to do.

So my best advice is to find someone you trust who lives close by, with the mindset that this person will not be able to make any financial decisions for you or your child (unless you say so.) Consider your child’s classmate’s family, Sunday school teacher, or just a really nice neighbor. Also designate more than one temporary guardian, just in case the other predeceases you, moves or becomes unavailable for some other reason.