If you live in Florida, particularly in Broward County, you’ve probably heard of an awesome event called the Sixth Annual Miss Arc Broward Pageant. This pageant, presented by the law firm Holland & Knight, empowers girls and women between the ages of six and seventeen who have disabilities. Held at the Parker Playhouse, it gives these young ladies a chance to shine. Excitingly, Michael Wild is sponsoring one of the candidates! Not only should you look into attending the pageant so that you can sit in the audience and cheer on the girls, you can also take this opportunity to think more about your own family. There are different ways that you can support family members and friends who may have disabilities through inclusive, diverse estate planning. 

But First, More About the Pageant

Such a cool event needs more than just one little paragraph. The Miss Arc Broward Pageant is an event from Arc Broward. Arc Broward is an organization dedicated to helping people with disabilities. This nonprofit organization has been around since 1956, and the pageant is a relatively recent idea. Arc Broward has ten different locations and provides Broward County with twenty-one programs to help disabled citizens learn life skills. These programs aren’t just great for the more vulnerable parts of the population; they’re great for the community at large. The pageant itself celebrates the young women who take part in Arc Broward’s programs, because women’s empowerment is for everyone, disabled or not.  

Helping Disabled Family Members 

Disabilities are common throughout the world. Everyone is differently-abled in some way or another. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, one in five Americans has a disability, whether physical or psychological. Disabled people have an income that is almost half of what a non-disabled person has. Clearly, disabled people need our help, both as a society and, on a smaller scale, as a family. If you have disabled family members, consider ways to work them into your estate plan and provide at least some security for their needs, whether through asset transferring, gifts, setting aside a fund, or something else. There are many, many different ways besides just those to make your estate plan inclusive towards your disabled loved ones.

Consider the Future

Perhaps the disabled individual is someone in your actual nuclear family. You want to make sure that you consider all the facets of their care. This includes finding them a power of attorney for their finances and medical decisions. If something were to happen that would incapacitate them, having a power of attorney means that the financial and medical decisions would be taken care of by someone they trust. A power of attorney takes important decision-making power and places it into the hands of a trustworthy individual with which the person is comfortable.

Guardianship 

If the disabled members of your family are your children, guardianship takes on an even more enhanced role. In the event that something happens to you, selecting a guardian has a special importance. Choose someone who has experience working with the particular disability that your child has. The guardian should agree to the guardianship, as that is a big responsibility and you want to make sure they are on board. Don’t forget to make sure that your child is okay with the person and likes them, also.

As you can see, the upcoming Miss Arc Broward Pageant is going to be a lot of fun! We’re excited to sponsor one of the contestants. On a less public forum, feel free to schedule an estate planning appointment to talk about how you can take care of family or friends you may have who have disabilities. Estate planning is great at providing a unique type of future security for those close to you.