After my husband died, I realized I needed a will for our daughter

"I wish I could say my husband and I were young and foolish, but we weren't that young. We just never considered writing wills. Who needs those? Grandparents. People in their 80s whose adult children are going to argue over who gets the favorite painting or the glassware. We had one young child and nothing to our names. We were carefree."

"My husband was 42 when he was diagnosed with colorectal cancer. We walked through all of the paperwork connected to that diagnosis in slow motion: hospital bills, out-of-network acknowledgements for radiation, disability, and eventually power of attorney and hospice care. We were so caught up in the paperwork involved in active dying that it didn't occur to us to make plans for what could happen after he was gone."

"He asked what I had in place for my daughter in case anything happened to me. Nothing. I had nothing formal in place. Just an understanding with my best friend that she'd swoop in and care for my daughter if needed.My dad, it turns out, assumed that my daughter would be moving to live with other family friends if something happened to me."

A couple without significant assets assumed a will was unnecessary. The husband, age 42, received a colorectal cancer diagnosis and the family navigated extensive medical and end-of-life paperwork such as hospital bills, radiation acknowledgements, disability forms, power of attorney, and hospice care. The household included a mortgaged home, modest retirement accounts, and no life insurance. After the husband's death, the surviving parent discovered no formal arrangements for the young daughter's care. Family members held differing assumptions about custody. The surviving parent created a will using a simple online service to designate guardianship and protect the daughter's upbringing and financial future.

Read at Business Insider