Letters of Guidance for Illinois Estate Planners
It is sometimes the little things that count for a great deal where estate planning is involved.
A recent Wall Street Journal article by Rachel Emma Silverman titled "An Estate Plan Built for Special Needs" has this to say about the importance of attention to detail regarding the creation of a guidance letter to be included among the estate planning documents for an individual with special needs:
“It’s also smart to create a ‘letter of guidance’, a document spelling out everything another caregiver should know about their child’s special needs, including medical diagnosis, treatment and medications, specific likes and dislikes, and food preferences or aversions. ‘You know things about your children that no one else on this earth knows’, says Michael Gilfix, a Palo Alto, Calif. lawyer who does a lot of special-needs planning. ‘This includes little things, like what breakfast food makes them happy or what breakfast food makes them really angry’.
Ms. Valentine, a client of Mr. Gilfix, recently wrote a letter of guidance for her son, Gabe. The document describes how Gabe is a huge San Francisco Giants fan, so any caregiver should make sure he gets tickets to home games. He doesn’t like ice cream or cake, but likes pizza. His epilepsy medication affects his teeth, so the letter recommends that he get his teeth cleaned regularly. ‘He actually loves the dentist’, she says.”
