It’s very exciting to think about all of the possibilities ahead of you and your family when you have your first child, but in addition to all of the other busy new parent related tasks on your list, making an estate plan should jump to the top of the priorities. Putting off this process before your first one is common because many spouses simply decide to pass all their assets onto one another. 

However, three estate planning steps should be taken into consideration when having your first child and updating your estate plans to reflect the new structure of your family. These include making a will, buying life insurance, and naming a guardian.

The best results come from when you have been able to do all three of these steps, since the success of one depends on the other two.

In the creation of your will, you are able to name a guardian who can take over care for your minor child in the event that you and your spouse become unable to do so. Creating a will can be done by sitting down with an experienced estate planning attorney. In addition, you should also consider buying a life insurance policy that will help provide immediate benefits for your loved ones should something ever happen to you.