Do You Need Life Insurance?
By Barry Zimmer on November 23rd, 2017 in Uncategorized
Cincinnati estate planning lawyers provide assistance with taking steps to protect your family in case something happens to you. The steps you will need to take can vary depending upon your family situation, including whether or not you have anyone who is depending upon your income.
Zimmer Law Firm works with people of all different age groups, with all different levels of assets and all different kinds of family situations. Our goal is always to help every client determine the specific estate planning steps he or she needs to take given his own personal situation. We help you with all of the important decisions that matter, including a decision on whether or not you should purchase life insurance to provide protection for your family.
Do You Need Life Insurance?
The decision on whether to buy life insurance or not will depend upon several different factors. One of the first key questions to ask yourself is whether there is anyone who is dependent upon either your income or upon services you provide. If your spouse needs your paycheck to help pay the mortgage on the home that you share, this is clearly a situation where you need to have life insurance because you do not want your spouse to lose the house if something happens to you. When you are the parent of a young child, having life insurance is also important because you want money to be available to provide for your child in case something should happen to you.
Another big example of a situation where life insurance is important is when you have a child or other dependent in your life with special needs who you are caring for. Your child or other disabled loved one may not be able to work and you may need to ensure sufficient money is provided for his care. If you are making plans to provide for a disabled loved one, it is especially important you get legal help because a financial gift you give could cause a loss of access to means-tested benefits like Medicaid and Supplemental Security Income. Zimmer Law Firm will assist you in determining what insurance coverage you may need and how to structure a financial gift that you provide to a loved one to ensure that you have appropriate plans in place for the management and use of assets left to your disabled family member.
You may also need to buy life insurance if anyone has co-signed debt for you, even if no one is dependent upon your income. When you have debt and you have a co-signer, your death could mean the person who co-signed for you becomes responsible for repayment of the money you borrowed. You do not want your loved ones to end up thousands of dollars in debt if something happens to you, so you should make sure you have a policy to allow the co-signer to pay off what is owed if you pass away before you can pay it back.
You should also consider whether you may have people who are dependent upon you for financial support or services in the future, even if no one is currently depending upon you. For example, you may have parents who are getting older who could need help or you may be planning to get married or to have a child. If you think that there is a high likelihood you could require life insurance in the future because you will have dependents, you should strongly consider buying a policy now. Buying life insurance can be less costly the younger you are when you purchase the policy. If you buy life insurance when you are younger and when you are healthy, you also will not need to worry about the possibility that you could develop a serious medical condition later on in your life that makes you uninsurable and prevents you from getting the coverage that you need to take care of your dependents in the future.
Getting Help from Cincinnati Estate Planning Lawyers
Zimmer Law Firm is here to provide you with the help you need to make decisions on life insurance and to address the other questions you may have about how you can financially protect your family in case something happens to you. To find out more about all of the different ways that our legal team can assist with your estate planning process, join us for a free seminar. If you are ready to begin making your personalized estate plan, give us a call at 513.721.1513 now.