Estate Planning for When ‘Baby Oops’ Comes Along
Here are four estate planning tasks to keep in mind to ensure Baby Oops gets what they need if you become incapacitated or pass away.


You’re likely all too familiar with the concept. Most families have children with fairly narrow age gaps. The median age gap between children is just 24 to 29 months. But every now and then, after it seems apparent to everyone — including the parents — that the family is fully formed, along comes Baby Oops 10 years later, and two kids becomes three as everyone rejoices.
Parents and grandparents should be mindful amid the pomp and circumstance of the new baby’s arrival, however. There are important estate planning considerations attached to having a child roughly a decade younger than their siblings. Throughout Baby Oops’ childhood, they’ll be at a substantially different stage of life than other siblings and will likely have different needs as a result.
For anyone who finds themselves or their adult children in this situation, here’s a short checklist of what you need to keep in mind:

Sign up for Kiplinger’s Free E-Newsletters
Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice on investing, taxes, retirement, personal finance and more - straight to your e-mail.
Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice - straight to your e-mail.
1. Make sure you update your beneficiary designations.
Unlike your last will and testament, which often does take into account the possibility of there being future children on the horizon, your beneficiary designations may not offer the same convenience. Take your life insurance policy, for example. Your life insurance policy isn’t a probate asset, so it’s not covered by your will. Let’s say you’ve left the proceeds of your life insurance policy to each of your first two children by designating them as your beneficiaries: Your will might automatically account for Baby Oops, but your life insurance policy won’t.
You’d be surprised how often this becomes a problem, and it’s what people overlook the most, based on my experience. Make sure not to accidentally forget to add Baby Oops to your life insurance policy or any other non-probate assets.
2. Think about updating guardians for your children in your will.
It’s one thing to designate the grandparents as the guardians for your 9- and 10-year-olds in case anything happens to you. Kids are fairly independent by this age, and any parent knows that caring for a fifth grader is very different than taking care of a baby. For making sure children are doing their homework and getting to soccer practice, grandparents may be appropriate guardians.
However, for constantly running around and even rolling on the floor to play with a baby and change diapers, grandparents may not be ideal guardians, while a sibling might be. This is one of the most significant areas of the age gap having an effect.
3. Have another look at all of your fiduciary appointments.
Sure, usually when you hear the word “fiduciary,” you probably think first of a financial adviser. In this instance, we’re referring to your executor, your trustee — all of the people you name to carry out your various estate planning wishes.
Now, maybe you’ve given that designation to your 16- or 17-year-old, provided they’ve reached the age of 18 when the time comes. With Baby Oops, maybe you also want to appoint them when they attain the age of 18. This way, all of your children — once they’ve become adults — can work together as your fiduciaries. To do this, you’ll want to update your appointments so that Baby Oops can be part of the process.
4. Consider a pot trust to ensure fairness for your children.
If you have older children, you’ve probably paid for many of their expenses already, while Baby Oops didn’t have the benefit of receiving many of the same things you paid for. That’s where a pot trust comes in. It’s basically a pot of funds for all of your named beneficiaries, managed by a trustee, where the trustee has the power to determine how assets are distributed.
This allows for desired complexity when slicing up the pie equally after you’re gone might not actually be the fairest method of doing things.
Takeaway
Having an unexpected, late addition to your happy family is a source of joy that is in so many ways a gift. But with enough of an age gap between children, there will be half a generation between your oldest and youngest. In the event that you pass away or become incapacitated, the youngest child’s needs will be very different.
So if Baby Oops does come along for you or someone close to you, don’t forget to have a close look at your estate planning documents to make sure everything is exactly as you wish it to be.
Profit and prosper with the best of Kiplinger's advice on investing, taxes, retirement, personal finance and much more. Delivered daily. Enter your email in the box and click Sign Me Up.

Allison L. Lee is the Attorney-at-Law, Director Trusts & Estate Content for FreeWill, a mission-based public benefit corporation that partners with nonprofits to provide a simple, intuitive and efficient online self-help platform to create wills and other estate planning documents free of cost. Through its work democratizing access to these tools, FreeWill has helped raise billions for charity. Prior to joining FreeWill, Allison spent more than a decade in private practice.
-
Could This Little Known Data Shift Hurt Your 2026 Social Security COLA?
The BLS has changed how it measures the inflationary data that determines whether Social Security benefits will get a Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA). Will it hurt your benefits?
-
Financial Pros Provide a Beginner's Guide to Building Wealth in 10 Years
Building wealth over 10 years requires understanding your current financial situation, budgeting effectively, eliminating high-interest debt and increasing both your income and financial literacy.
-
Financial Pros Provide a Beginner's Guide to Building Wealth in 10 Years
Building wealth over 10 years requires understanding your current financial situation, budgeting effectively, eliminating high-interest debt and increasing both your income and financial literacy.
-
Five Mistakes to Avoid in Your First Year of Retirement
Retirement brings the freedom to choose how to spend your money and time. But choices made in the initial rush of excitement could create problems in future.
-
I'm an Investing Expert: This Is How You Can Invest Like Warren Buffett
Buffett just invested $15 billion in oil and gas, and you can leverage the same strategy in your IRA to potentially generate 8% to 12% quarterly cash flow while taking advantage of tax benefits that are unavailable in any other investment class.
-
Integrity, Generosity and Wealth: A Faith-Based Approach to Business
Entrepreneurs who align their business and financial decisions with the biblical principles of integrity, generosity and helping others can realize impactful and fulfilling success.
-
How Much Income Can You Get From an Annuity? An Annuities Expert Gets Specific
Here's a detailed look at income annuities and the factors that determine your payout now and in the future.
-
Your Paycheck Stops in Retirement, But Your Life Doesn't: An Expert Guide to Planning for a Confident Future
Social Security will replace only about 40% of your salary, on average. A solid financial plan will help you plug the gap so you can rest easy in retirement.
-
Are You Jeopardizing Your Future to Help Your Adult Kids? An Expert Guide for How to Not Do That
If your adult child needs financial help, of course you want to provide it, but crafting a plan that also protects your financial and emotional well-being is vital.
-
I'm a Financial Planner: Here Are Some Long-Term Care Insurance Tips for Every Age
Strategies include adding riders to life insurance for younger individuals and considering hybrid or traditional long-term care policies for those in their mid-50s and 60s.