Estate Planning for New Parents: What You Actually Need in Year One

You just had a baby. You’re exhausted, overwhelmed, and probably not thinking about estate planning. I get it.

But here’s the thing nobody tells you at the hospital: if something happens to both of you tomorrow and you don’t have a plan in place, a judge who has never met your family will decide who raises your child. Not your mom. Not your best friend. A judge. And the process will take weeks or months while your child waits in temporary custody.

That’s the reality. But the fix is simpler than most new parents expect.

The one question that changes everything

Estate planning for new parents starts with one question: Who raises your child if you can’t?

That’s it. That’s the starting point. Everything else — the documents, the legal structure, the financial pieces — flows from your answer to that question. And the only legal way to answer it is in your will.

Without a will that names a guardian, Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio law each have their own default rules about who gets priority. Generally, it’s your closest living relative — which might be someone you’d never choose. A grandparent with health issues. A sibling you haven’t spoken to in years. The court doesn’t know your family dynamics. The court follows the statute.

I wrote a separate guide on how to choose a guardian if you want to think through that decision carefully. But the key point here is: you have to put it in writing, in a legal document, or it doesn’t count.

What new parents actually need

The internet will tell you that you need seventeen different documents and a revocable trust and a special needs provision and a generation-skipping transfer strategy. Most of that is for later. Here’s what matters in year one:

A will (for both parents)

This is where you name your child’s guardian. It’s also where you direct how your assets pass to your child — and at what age. Most parents don’t want their 18-year-old inheriting everything outright. A will can create a testamentary trust that holds assets until your child reaches an age you choose, managed by a trustee you pick.

Powers of attorney (for both parents)

If you’re incapacitated but not dead — think car accident, medical emergency, serious illness — who pays your mortgage? Who manages your bank account? Who handles your insurance claims? A durable power of attorney answers that. Without one, your spouse or family would need to go to court to get authority. That takes time, costs money, and happens while you’re lying in a hospital bed.

Medical directives (for both parents)

A living will and medical power of attorney tell doctors what you want if you can’t speak for yourself, and who gets to make those calls. These documents are just as important for a healthy 30-year-old as they are for someone with a chronic condition. Accidents don’t check your age first.

Life insurance beneficiary check

This isn’t a document I draft, but it’s something I always flag in consultation. If you have life insurance through work, check who your beneficiary is. If it still says your college roommate or an ex, now is the time to update it. And if the beneficiary is your child directly, that’s a problem — a minor child can’t receive life insurance proceeds. The money would go to a court-supervised account. Your will or trust should handle this instead.

Do you need a trust right now?

Maybe. It depends on what you own.

If you rent, have modest savings, and your main asset is a workplace retirement account, a will-based plan is probably sufficient right now. The will-based plan at Cooper Law covers everything listed above.

If you own a home, have significant savings or investments, or want to avoid probate for your family, a trust-based plan is worth considering from the start. The cost difference between a will-based plan and a trust-based plan is meaningful but modest — and the protection difference is significant. I wrote a detailed comparison of wills vs. trusts if you want the full picture.

The honest answer is that most young families benefit from a trust-based plan more than they expect. But I’d rather you start with a will-based plan today than wait another year because a trust feels like too big a step. Something is always better than nothing.

When “later” becomes never

I hear the same thing from new parents all the time: “We know we need to do this, we just haven’t gotten around to it.” I understand. You’re sleep-deprived, your life just changed completely, and estate planning is not the thing that feels urgent today.

But here’s what I’ve learned from working with families: the people who wait almost always wish they hadn’t. Not because something happened — but because the stress of knowing they don’t have a plan weighs on them longer than the process of actually creating one.

The process at Cooper Law takes 3–4 weeks for a will-based plan or 4–6 weeks for a trust-based plan. Most of that is me drafting and you reviewing. The intake form takes a few minutes. The consultation is one conversation. And then it’s done — and you don’t have to think about it again until your life changes enough to need an update.

You don’t do estate planning for you. You do it for the tiny person sleeping in the next room.

Allison Cooper, JD, CPA, CFP®

Allison Cooper is the founder of Cooper Law, LLC, an estate planning firm based in Louisville, Kentucky. She holds a JD, CPA, and CFP® and is licensed to practice law in Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio.