Firefighter Estate Planning
Firefighters face unique risks on the job, and as a result they have unique concerns when it comes to estate planning. The specific concerns that an individual firefighter is likely to have will depend not just on his or her personality and priorities, but on whether the fire district contract includes life insurance for family members who might be left behind, and what other benefits are available as part of their total compensation. Rather than relying entirely on the state workers’ compensation provisions to take care of young families, firefighters with growing children are often particularly interested in their options for setting aside resources that will be there for those children long-term. All of these considerations can create a complex set of factors to navigate in firefighter estate planning.
As a former firefighter, our founding attorney knows these concerns from experience. Call Scarborough Law Office, LLC to schedule a private consultation to address your own concerns and make sure you feel comfortable with the plans you have in place to take care of your family if the unthinkable someday occurs. Reach us in Blue Springs at 816-230-5550.
In many respects, firefighters need and rely on the same essential estate planning documents as other Missourians. However, the hazardous nature of fire suppression work and the specific death benefits (for surviving family members) and disability benefits (for firefighters injured in the line of duty) that are often written into firefighters’ contracts as part of their collective bargaining agreements can often require an approach that is tailored to the unique circumstances of this profession.
Firefighters, like other Missourians, can generally expect to need a valid and up-to-date Last Will and Testament (Will). More urgently than many of their counterparts in other professions, however, firefighters will likely want to ensure that their Wills specify an individual they trust to act as the guardian of the person, as described in Mo. Rev. Stat. § 475.010(8), or for their minor child or children.
Trusts may also prove extremely helpful to firefighters in their estate planning. In some instances it makes sense to incorporate trusts into their estate planning in order to protect key assets, in the event of a sudden change in household income (such as might occur with the premature loss of a spouse).
Trusts can also prepare for your family’s future by specifying distributions, for instance to your spouse or children, at exact intervals or only when conditions in the trust instrument are met. These specifications, besides granting significant control over how funds placed in the trust may be used, also give firefighters the opportunity to set aside resources “earmarked” for specific household needs, or for the unique hopes and dreams a parent may cherish for each child.
Firefighter estate planning can be complicated by the network over interlocking benefits in which many fire districts participate. Some of these benefits may be offered as the result of union contract negotiations, while others are derived from the Missouri Local Government Employees Retirement System (LAGERS). Firefighters are also typically eligible for federal benefits under the national Public Safety Officers’ Benefits (PSOB) program. A number of programs are designed specifically to address the needs of firefighters who become disabled as a result of hazards encountered in the course of their work, as well as line of duty death (LODD) benefits for their families if the worst should happen. Each program operates according to its own set of rules, so Missouri firefighter estate planning requires careful coordination to ensure that your individual priorities are addressed.
The Missouri Department of Labor (DOL) explains that state workers’ compensation laws mandate benefits for the surviving family members of firefighters who die within 300 weeks from the time of initial injury or contracting an illness that they received (or were exposed to) in the “active performance” of his or her duty, when the injury or illness was directly related to the firefighter’s performance of his or her duty. These survivors’ benefits, called Line of Duty Compensation because they are tied directly to death from illness or injury sustained “in the line of duty,” apply even if the firefighter was on break (e.g., lunch break), off-duty, or traveling to or from the work site (e.g., fire station) when the incident that eventually led to the individual’s death occurred. Mo. Rev. Stat. 287.243.2(13) extends the Line of Duty Compensation benefit to the families of volunteer fighters who die as a result of their firefighting duties, but only if the volunteer is “regularly enrolled” as a firefighter with a “regularly constituted” fire department.
A 2025 update to state law increased the Line of Duty Death (LODD) benefit for families of firefighters killed in the course of their work to $100,000. Families have up to two years after their loved one’s death to submit their claims, but the payment structure itself is dictated by the terms of the Missouri Line of Duty Compensation Act. Because firefighters do not have control over how the LODD benefits will be distributed, it is critical to prepare your estate plan with that structure in mind.
Familiarizing yourself with PSOB provisions is especially important because it offers disability as well as death benefits, and because the program directly addresses the educational needs of children and spouses of firefighters who are killed or permanently and totally disabled in the line of duty. Parents who set up trusts to care for their children in the event of premature disability or death often focus on their children’s expected educational needs, so firefighters have a choice to enhance the effects of the PSOB financial assistance or, on the other hand, to establish trust terms that target other needs their families may have.
Additionally, the PSOB program offers support for firefighters who become disabled in the line of duty. Although line of duty deaths are tragic, disabling injuries are also a significant hazard for firefighters. Not only fires themselves, but the potentially toxic chemicals they often release, present a high risk of exposure to dangerous substances as well as to the more immediately tangible risks posed by flames and compromised structures. Injuries received in the line of duty can run the gamut from inconvenient to catastrophic; at Scarborough Law Office we typically recommend setting up general and medical powers of attorney (POAs) to cover the most severe range of circumstances under which disability benefits would apply.
No one wants to consider the idea that one day they might leave for work and never make it home, but for firefighters this possibility is a very real concern they must face every day. Often some of the greatest worries firefighters have over the chance they may go out on a call and never return to their families turn on the question of what will happen to those families once the firefighter is gone.
The $100,000 line of duty death benefit Missouri provides to the families of firefighters who die in the course of performing their duties may not be enough to make up for the loss of a spouse or parent’s income, even when combined with the substantial life insurance policies that many firefighter compensation plans offer. For these reasons, many Missouri firefighters take steps to ensure their families will be provided for if a day comes when the hazard they face becomes greater than all the training and protective equipment they have brought to the call.
Supplementary life insurance policies are a solid start for many, but you may also want to consider reviewing the beneficiary designations on your various financial accounts. Keep in mind that if you are married, any accounts or other property you currently own jointly with your spouse will in most cases become his or her sole property in the event of your death. The same is unfortunately also true of your shared debts, which can make it critical to put measures in place to protect your family’s home or means of transportation if the household finances are disrupted by the sudden loss of your income, especially if you have children still at home. If you have aging parents who rely on you, it is important to establish a plan for them, as well.
One of the more frustrating aspects of firefighter estate planning is that “standard” estate planning packages are rarely designed to address the unique needs and concerns of a firefighter and their dependents. The benefits provided by the districts or departments or even the State of Missouri are more attuned to the specific needs of firefighters and their families, but these benefits are necessarily limited, and many firefighters are concerned that they may prove woefully inadequate to meet their families’ real needs
The Scarborough Law Office team offers firefighter estate planning for exactly this reason. If you are concerned about your estate plan, or need to develop a plan but would like a clearer picture of how the available options would actually affect your family if the unthinkable someday became their reality, start by scheduling a family protection audit to review existing estate planning tools and identify potential gaps or missed opportunities to ensure your family is fully protected,
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Firefighter estate planning has to account for a wide array of variables, and it needs to be flexible and easy enough to address the priorities and conditions that will be unique to each individual and their family. Missouri law offers robust tools for achieving an estate plan that will protect a firefighter’s family through a crushing loss, but taking advantage of those tools demands an understanding of both the legal tools themselves and the circumstances under which they would likely come into play.
At Scarborough Law Office, LLC, our aim is to make sure we meet firefighters with a truly exceptional level of understanding, grounded by experience. We know firefighters, and we are passionate about helping them secure a future for their families. Call us today at 816-230-5550 to set up a conversation and review firefighter estate planning options.