Protecting Your Kids While You’re on Vacation (and they’re at home)

As I write this post I am flying over California with my wife on the way to Cabo San Lucas to celebrate my brother-in-law’s 40th birthday.

And we are alone!

This is our first vacation alone without our kids (5, 3, and 1), and I must say so far it’s quite nice (except that we are both literally looking around for someone to give a snack to, console, or otherwise take care of).

Because it’s our first time to really be away from the kids, it’s the first time we had to think about making sure they are taken care of if something happens to us (or them) while we are gone.

Generally the document that will take care of this is your Power of Attorney. Inside each of the Power of Attorney documents I have creates a short-term guardian designation, appointing someone as the care taker of the kids if something happens to us.

This is important not just because of the situation in general, but also because it gives that person the ability to do some important things that they might not otherwise be able to do.

The most important of these things is seek medical care. An ear infection, the flu, and anything else that needs attention but isn’t life threatening is going to be hard to get looked at without a short-term guardian designation specifically giving someone the authority to do this.

But what about the situation where you are going on a short trip and the person watching your kids isn’t your designated short-term guardian?

This is the exact scenario we’re facing right now. My parents flew in from Kansas to spend some quality time with the kids. They aren’t named in our primary Power of Attorney documents.

The solution?

A limited short-term guardian designation.

This accomplishes the goal of giving your caretaker the authority they need (and your kids the protection they need) for a limited amount of time, without having to go and execute another full on Power of Attorney.

It’s the kind of thing that’s nice to have around when and if you need (there should be no if – we ALL need some time away from the kids).

And I have good news.

I’ve come up with a way to let you have this document at your fingertips whenever you need it.

I’ve put together a template Limited Short-Term Guardian Designation that you can use whenever you need it. If the person watching the kids is different each time that’s okay. You just insert the dates you’re going to be gone and the person you want to grant the authority to, print, notarize, and voila, you’re all set.

I’ve decided to make this available (along with any future updates to the template) for only $97.

All you have to do is click the link below and register.

https://cmslawfirm.com/limitedguardian

And, to make sure you don’t have any problems, if you purchase and then have a question of any kind, just email me and I’ll help you out, No charge.

When we travel we often buy travel insurance, plan our trip, make a list of things to pack, write instructions for the babysitter, pre-plan the meals the kids will eat, and a myriad of other things.

It’s often the things that provide the biggest protection that we overlook.

Hopefully this can help make your next non-kids trip a worry-free one.