Authority & Decision-Making Planning
We are not estate planning attorneys.
However, we can help you consider strategies for transferring your assets in the event of death or incapacity.
A qualified attorney can then determine & implement the approach that best fits your situation.
Power of Attorney is often the first building block of an estate plan. It allows you to authorize a trusted individual to manage your financial or medical affairs if you become incapacitated.
A Durable Power of Attorney takes effect immediately & remains valid if you become incapacitated. It ends only upon your death or if you revoke it in writing.
A Medical Power of Attorney (also called a Health Care Directive) allows you to appoint someone to make medical decisions if you are unable to do so. It must reflect your stated wishes, which may include a Living Will or Do-Not-Resuscitate (DNR) order. You can also name a backup representative in case your primary designee is unavailable.
Patents often don’t realize that once a child turns 18, they become a legal adult. Without a medical directive a hospital might ignore parents’ wishes if their child is incapacitated. They have lost the legal authority to make decisions for them.
Alternatively, if both parents become incapacitated without a medical directive, ‘someone’ will have to decide to make what’s usually a very complex application to the Courts to set-up a Conservatorship, to access any money and take care of children. Normal wills and trusts don’t kick-in if you’re still alive.
