Planning for a New Child in the Family

Sidney Kess, JD, LLM, CPA, and James R. Grimaldi, CPA, and James A.J. Revels, CPA

The birth or adoption of a child brings joy to parents, grandparents, and other family members and friends. It also means financial challenges for families. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s latest figures (Mark Lino, Kevin Kuczynski, Nestor Rodriguez, and TusaRebecca Schap, Expenditures on Children by Families, 2015, January 2017, http://bit.ly/2BIm10P), it costs $233,610 to raise a child through age 17—and this does not include the cost of higher education. The following are some of the tax, legal, and financial opportunities and concerns created when bringing a new child into the family. This column reflects changes made by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA).