We live in uncertain times.\u00a0 Our GPS re-routes us for accidents during our commute.\u00a0 There are rumors of epidemics that may impact our health.\u00a0 According to the Alzheimer\u2019s Association, 1 in 3 seniors dies with Alzheimer\u2019s or another dementia.\u00a0 It is uncomfortable to think about moving from being healthy and in control of your life to unconscious or incapacitated and unable to make medical decisions, write the checks to pay medical bills, or even tell family members your wishes.\u00a0 Without planning, no one else has access to your accounts to pay your bills, or is authorized to make medical and other personal decisions for you, and it could be necessary for the court to appoint a guardian.\u00a0 The guardian may not be someone you know or would choose, and a court monitored guardianship is expensive.<\/p>\n
Fortunately, you can retain the power over who makes decisions when you no longer can, when you make an estate plan.\u00a0 In addition to a will, a complete estate plan should include a durable power of attorney, a health care surrogate (which is a power of attorney for health care), and a living will, and in most cases, a properly funded revocable living trust.\u00a0 These documents work together to avoid the need for a guardianship and protect you from having your life run by strangers, helping protect you during your lifetime, and your beneficiaries after death.<\/p>\n
A power of attorney is a written document in which a principal can authorize another person (referred to as his \u201cagent\u201d or \u201cattorney in fact\u201d to act in the principal\u2019s behalf in his financial, health care, or other legal affairs.\u00a0 In Florida, health care powers are governed by a different statute from the financial powers, and result in separate documents.\u00a0 \u00a0You can also have a Living Will, which states the principal\u2019s wishes in advance regarding end-of-life interventions, to assist their surrogate in the event the principal is unable to state his or her wishes later.<\/p>\n
A power of attorney permits your chosen agent (or agents) to act on your behalf in financial matters, and enroll you for government benefits, if needed.\u00a0 It is not a substitute for a funded revocable living trust, however, as banks and other institutions can be leery of accepting powers of attorney they have not prepared themselves, and often have their own documents they want a principal to sign, which may not be possible when it is needed. Where multiple agents are named, it is important that a bank have a way to tell who has the authority to act at any given time.\u00a0\u00a0 The revocable living trust, if funded during your lifetime, permits the successor trustee to pay others on your behalf during your incapacity, and seamlessly continues for benefit of your beneficiaries upon your death, whereas an agent under a power of attorney loses all power to act upon the death or guardianship of the principal.<\/p>\n
Having all your planning documents in place in advance<\/em> assures that they are there when you need them, because chances are, when you need them, you may no longer capable of signing them.\u00a0 If you don\u2019t currently have your documents in place, or if it has been a few years since they were reviewed, consider speaking with an estate planning attorney.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Jennifer L. Fulton, Esq. is an attorney, of counsel, at The Law Offices of Robin <\/em>Bresky (www.breskylegal.com<\/u>)\u00a0focusing\u00a0on\u00a0Estate Planning, Probate, and Estate and Trust Administration. A\u00a0member of the Florida Bar since 1996 with a\u00a0Juris Doctor degree\u00a0from Nova Southeastern University,\u00a0Fulton works with clients to plan for the milestones of life (college, \u201cadulting\u201d, marriage, children, grandchildren, aging parents, pre- and post-divorce,\u00a0loss of a spouse, aging, diminished mental\u00a0capacity)\u00a0and administration upon death. She can be reached at 561-994-6273 or\u00a0EstatePlanning@BreskyLegal.com.<\/u><\/em>\u00a0 <\/em>If you have an estate planning topic you would like to hear more about, please drop her a line, and perhaps it will spark a future article! <\/em><\/p>\n This information is provided for general educational purposes and may not apply to your specific situation.\u00a0 Please consult with an attorney before relying on this information.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We live in uncertain times.\u00a0 Our GPS re-routes us for accidents during our commute.\u00a0 There are rumors of epidemics that may impact our health.\u00a0 According to the Alzheimer\u2019s Association, 1 in 3 seniors dies with Alzheimer\u2019s or another dementia.\u00a0 It is uncomfortable to think about moving from being healthy and in control of your life…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1817,1836,1806,1830,1813],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-civil","category-estate-planning","category-family","category-general","category-probate"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ssrga.com\/appellate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ssrga.com\/appellate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ssrga.com\/appellate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ssrga.com\/appellate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ssrga.com\/appellate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1927"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ssrga.com\/appellate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1927\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ssrga.com\/appellate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ssrga.com\/appellate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ssrga.com\/appellate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}