Review these 4-steps to tackle your estate plan in 2018 as outlined by the Senior Homes.
1. Start the process now
2. Select a healthcare power of attorney
3. Name a durable power of attorney
4. Choose how assets are handled
When your loved one is no longer able to make their own healthcare and financial decisions, you’ll want to be able to carry out their wishes as they imagined you would. However, if they become incapable of communicating their desires to you, having a proper estate to turn to can help ensure that their last wishes are fulfilled.
Here are a few key steps to help get your loved one started:
1. Start the process now
When it comes to getting started with estate planning, it’s the sooner, the better, says Candice Aiston, an estate planning attorney.
"It's important to get things done when the elder is able to make decisions on their own. Figuring out when that point is can be hard for a lot of clients who have dementia or who have periods when they are at full capacity, and others when they are not," says Aiston.
If a person becomes incapacitated and doesn’t have an estate in place, their family has to go to court to get a conservatorship to make their financial decisions and a guardianship to make their medical decisions.
Since age isn't the only factor that goes into someone being unable to make their own decisions, Aiston says it's never too early to start estate planning. "The best time to do estate planning is when you turn 18, but other than that the best time to do it is now," she says.
2. Select a healthcare power of attorney
Your loved one should start by selecting their power of attorney for health care. This is the person named to make medical decisions for them if they’re unable to do so themselves. This person is designated in a legal document called an "advance health care directive," or depending on your state, it may be referred to as a "living will," "healthcare proxy" or "durable power of attorney for healthcare." Although state laws differ slightly, these directives are usually enforced only if someone is close to death from a terminal condition or in a permanent coma.
Having a healthcare power of attorney lets healthcare providers know what life-prolonging treatments a person does and doesn't want if they're no longer able to communicate their wishes with medical professionals. The healthcare power of attorney has the right to make sure their loved one’s wishes are enforced.
3. Name a durable power of attorney
While the healthcare power of attorney is able to make decisions related to a person's health, only the durable power of attorney (also called a "financial power of attorney") can make financial decisions on their behalf, such as applying for Medicaid, paying for a nursing home, setting up a revocable living trust to manage assets after they die and more.
If a person becomes mentally incompetent, is in a coma or experiences another debilitating medical emergency and doesn’t have a durable power of attorney for finances, a judge will have to appoint someone to manage their finances for them, even if the appointee is unfamiliar with the person or their money matters.
4. Choose how assets are handled
If a person dies and hasn’t set up a will or trust, their assets will pass by the rules of intestacy, or “intestate succession,” which can vary from state to state. Under these rules, the state will create a will for the deceased person that distributes his or her estate to their surviving heirs, such as spouses, children, other descendants or parents. If none of these people exist, the person’s property may go back to the state.
Choosing to have a will or trust is the best way to make sure a person's assets got where they want them to.
Birmingham Estate Planning Attorney Richard Burton provides legal services in Estates, Wills & Trusts, Probate Administration, Guardianship and Conservatorship, Asset Protection Planning, Business Succession Planning, Federal & State Tax Planning, Charitable Giving & Private Foundations. Contact Richard at www.attorneyrichardburton.com or call (205) 789-9894.
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