What plans should I make for my teen in the event something happens to me as a lone parent??

[jamaisjedors]

Little bit morbid but I realised recently that my youngest has just turned 18 and so technically an adult but still very much a teen in his own head.

He doesn't see his dad anymore because of his dad's mental health problems.

I started thinking about what would happen if something happened to me? I live in a different country to my UK family so they wouldn't be able to be very hands-on.

I have quite a lot of close friends and a partner who lives with us but there's no legal link between him and my DS.

I don't know if I should talk to a solicitor and set something up or even talk to my DS?

Anyone else worry about this? I worried during COVID and set up an "emergency file" with details of contacts and bank accounts etc. but the DC were kids then.

I suppose if he’s 18 you don’t really have to do anything anymore.

I have life insurance. I’m not a homeowner but if I was I’d probably create a folder regarding that. I’m also going to make a will in the event something happens because lately I’ve been thinking I’d rather put that responsibility on my DP.

I did talk to DD about it while under 18 because we also have no family around but now that she’s 20 it’s not a concern that applies anymore.

Ok thanks for your feedback. He feels very young to have to deal with things if anything happened to me but I guess I'll just have to talk to him about the flat etc. and see a solicitor for a will too.

Has he got power of attorney? I need to do it for mine now he's 18. I figure that if something happens to me the awfulness would be compounded if the paperwork aspect was really hard.

I did see a recommendation for a book called "I'm dead, now what..." so you can pop all your important info in there.

My ds 18 and I’ve done my will and he has POA. I’m slowly declutterring my stuff and putting together a file of my accounts etc.

I know someone who was in this position. 17, studying for A levels, lived with Mum, Dad a long way away, siblings living a long way away too. Mum died of cancer. The kid nominally lived with an adult friend of the mother, but in reality was mainly living at home. Least worst option and certainly made the regular stresses of live fade into insignificance ever after!

Unlikely you'll just drop dead without warning tbh.
But you might want to compile a "how to adult" guide for him - or just make him do all the admin with you supervising, as it's easier to remember stuff you've done rather than stuff you're told to do. Todsy we are dealing with the water bill & so on.

You can't have a guardian for an adult. I am thinking about setting up a trust for DD until she is 25 (if the worst happens) with relatives as trustees, so she can't make major financial decisions until she is a bit more mature.

Yes I think a mix of a "how to" guide and sometimes including him in household stuff would be good.

With everything being set up on direct debit there's not really any bill-paying to involve him in which in some ways makes it more invisible or inaccessible, I will also need to maybe give him passwords to the different accounts (not that I can remember them![

I've also left mine a card! Quite an uplifting note about how much I love them and how I'm proud of them. I've kept it light
Hopefully if the worst happened it would give them some comfort.