Category: Important Organization for Caregivers

Celebrities Illustrate the Good, Bad and Ugly in Life Planning

The Forbes story The 10 Biggest Celebrity Estate Stories Of 2014 And What You Can Learn illustrate good planning, bad planning and the ugly side of family feuds after a loved one dies.

From complicated family issues for Robin Williams, to misinformation about “trust fund kids” by Phillip Seymour Hoffman, it’s easy to stop and gawk. However, it’s reported that more than half of all American’s die without a will.

I’m lucky that my parents shared their wishes with me and my siblings and completed their estate plans well before we needed to use the tools created.

When you turn 65 years old, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, you have a 70 percent chance of needing 3 or more years of long-term care. You will be on this earth and need someone to advocate for you, pay your bills, manage your household and ensure that you live the life the way you wish.

If you do nothing else, contact a local estate lawyer about a Durable Power of Attorney. It should cost a few hundred dollars and will prove to be priceless in the very likely event that you need it.

Don’t repeat the mistakes of the rich and famous. Deliver the ultimate gift to your loved ones by planning now.

Sharing MY DPOA & Estate Plan Wishes

This past weekend, I sat down with my brother and my kids and walked them through the estate plan my husband and I recently had updated. It wasn’t doomy or gloomy since we are in good health. It just resulted in peace of mind for my kids to know our plans and we made sure that everyone knows where they can find our completed MemoryBanc Register, and the original copies of all of our important documents.

I wanted to share this as a follow-up to last weeks post discussing the importance of having a Durable Power of Attorney (DPOA).

If you don’t already know this, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reports that 7 out of 10 of us will need long-term care assistance for at least 3 years. The difficulty a loved one faces when you don’t have a DPOA can be expensive, undignified and lengthy.

I hope you will consider speaking with a lawyer dedicated to the practice of estate law in your area. You should be able to get one for just a few hundred dollars.

The Basic Life Preparedness Tool: Durable Power of Attorney

POAAs we move into the holiday season and prepare to enjoy time with family and friends, consider finding out if loved ones have a durable power of attorney. Everyone should anticipate that they may be unable to handle their affairs at some point during their adult lives. A power of attorney gives the individual you appoint the ability to act on your behalf until you recover.

As soon as you reach 18, it’s recommended that a power of attorney is in place with a trusted family member.  Parents have found that they are unable to learn about an adult child’s healthcare issues if they don’t have a medical power of attorney in place — even through they are paying for their healthcare expenses.

The statistics regarding the likelihood that you may need someone to step in and help are alarming—some 43 percent of all people age 40 now will have a long-term disability event (lasting 90 or more days) prior to reaching age 65. And seven out of ten people who turn 65 today will need some type of long-term care services and support lasting three or more years.

A durable power of attorney typically costs just a few-hundred dollars. We recommend you consult with a lawyer dedicated to the practice of estate law licensed in your state to determine your needs.

Related News Stories

The Power of Attorney Can Help With a Loved Ones Care
Your Daily Journal 11/28/2014
A good overview explaining the benefits of a power of attorney.

Veterans Fighting Back Over Power of Attorney
WTNH 11/13/2014
A story that illustrates the risk of not already having a power of attorney in place.

Guardianship vs. Power of Attorney Not Usually Choices
Poughkeepsie Journal, 11/9/2014
The expense and cost to your dignity when a loved one has to petition the court for guardianship make a power of attorney the preferred choice.

If you want to learn about my life experience (both good and bad) in using a Durable Power of Attorney to help my aging parents, check out Dealing with Dementia.

Life Preparedness 101

mbicons1.jpgWe all know that we should plan for future life-changing events, but it’s one of the first things we put on the back burner. We have a million excuses, and have learned that procrastination does not work, but there are some things we just never make time to complete.

When it comes to organizing your personal information, doing it later is often too late. The statistics are alarming—some 43 percent of all people age 40 now will have a long-term disability event prior to reaching age 65. And seven out of ten people who turn 65 today will need some type of long-term care services and support lasting three or more years. Could a loved one act as your medical advocate and provide your medical history or list of medications if you were unable to? Could someone else access your bill-paying account to cover basic expenses while you recovered?

Having a system that documents your passcodes, inventories your assets and provides a health biography will not only provide you with quick access to information when you need it, but also can provide a roadmap to the individual that would step in and help you—even if only temporarily—should you need it.

In 70 percent of all households, Consumer Reports found that both spouses were unaware of the major details about family finances and where to find account information. If your partner was suddenly incapacitated, would you be able to step in and manage what your partner was doing? And if you live on your own, it’s doubtful that friends or family would know the details of your life and your wishes if they wanted to help you.

For all these reasons, documenting your life details and putting them in a format that makes it easier for you to retrieve and that someone else can access is important. It matters the most to those people around you whom you love and would be negatively impacted by your failure to simply document basic details.

Click here for a checklist of all of the important documents and details you should have organized.