Educators spend their careers teaching and helping others. But many teachers and professors focus so much on their students that they neglect planning for their own futures, including estate planning. This oversight can leave their families facing confusion, conflict, and unnecessary costs after death or incapacitation.
Educators face unique financial circumstances that make estate planning especially important. Pension benefits, retirement accounts, and life insurance through your school or university require careful planning, but there is more to estate planning than your benefits. You should still have a will and, in many cases, a trust as well. Our Oswego estate planning attorney helps teachers, professors, paraeducators, and other educational professionals create estate plans that work.
What Happens to an Illinois Teacher’s Pension Benefits if You Die?
Most Illinois public pension systems allow you to choose a survivor benefit option when you retire. If you elect a survivor benefit, your monthly pension is reduced during your lifetime, but your spouse continues receiving payments after you die. If you elect no survivor benefit, you receive higher monthly payments, but benefits stop at your death.