You Truly Never Know What Might Happen...

"You just never know."

That phrase could not be ringing more true for the Wilcox family of Barnett, Missouri.  On Tuesday morning, Marty and Elisa Wilcox were leaving the hospital with their brand new baby boy, Gabriel, and their 3-year old son, Marty Junior.  The Wilcoxes were en route to grandmother, Angela Hartwig's house with Marty and Elisa wearing seat belts and both children properly secured in the appropriate child restraint seats.  In a horribly tragic turn of events, the Wilcox car was hit head on by a Toyota who crossed the center line. Marty and Elisa were pronounced dead on the scene and little Marty Junior was taken to a nearby hospital where he died a short time later. Miraculously, Baby Gabriel, only 40 hours old, was thrown from the vehicle but suffered only minor scratches and was released from the hospital that same day. At barely two days old, he is now an orphan and in his grandmother's care. This sad story unfortunately gets sadder as the driver of the Toyota was 19-year old Emily Frakes--Elisa's co-worker who had celebrated Gabriel's impending arrival at a baby shower not two weeks prior.

All of us here at Kristel K. Patton, P.C. are heartbroken by this story.  But we feel compelled to remind our readers that anything can happen to anyone at absolutely anytime--even 40 hours after the joyous arrival of a brand new baby.  We encourage everyone to take some time this year to think about planning for your future.  Especially if you have young or dependent children, it is imperative to ensure that the lives of your family and loved ones continue on as uninterrupted as possible should the unfortunate occur.  It is unclear whether the Wilcoxes had their affairs in order. But if they didn't, it would be up to Grandma Angela to deal with probating their estate and possibly even fighting a custody battle over Baby Gabriel all while trying to grieve the horrific loss of her dear loved ones. Estate planning is not always the easiest topic to discuss and think about, but it is so important to take care of because you truly never know what might happen.

*This post adapted from "Infant sole survivor of crash that kills parents, brother" found here.