Estate planning is a crucial topic for families, yet it’s often avoided due to its sensitive nature. Discussing finances, wealth transfer, and inheritance can be uncomfortable, but it’s essential for ensuring that a family’s financial future is secure. Families can feel more prepared and confident by approaching the conversation thoughtfully and with the right mindset. This guide offers actionable steps to make estate planning discussions smoother and more productive. 

It’s one of the hardest jobs you will ever do, and you may never actually get any true credit for it: single parenting. Since the 1960s, there has been a clear jump in the number of children living in a single-parent home. According to the United States Census Bureau, between 1960 and 2016, the amount of children living in with two parents decreased from 88% to 69%. It is reported that this was caused by an increase of births to unmarried women and an increase in divorces among couples. In 2010 alone, 40.7% of all births in the U.S. were to unmarried women. The latest Census data shows that approximately 26% of children live in single-parent households today.