Preparing For The Unknown: Incapacity Planning

Estate planning offers more than you may realize. Experienced attorneys will provide you with various ways to protect your assets while ensuring that your chosen beneficiaries receive them. An overlooked and essential element is that when you create one, you can be prepared for the uncertainties of the future. Everyone is exposed to the risk of being incapacitated. People who must undergo complicated or relatively dangerous surgeries can reclaim an element of control by meeting with an attorney to discuss incapacity planning.

What It Can Do For You

Who is incapacity planning for? In a word, you. Anyone over the age of 18 years should incorporate incapacity planning into their estate plan. Including incapacity planning in your estate plan is based on the simple premise that you never know when you will need it. When people think of estate planning, they tend to think of only what happens to their assets when they pass away. A truly comprehensive estate plan also plans for your incapacity. Incapacity planning is for when you are still alive but cannot make decisions on your behalf.

Incapacity planning is something you do for other people as much as yourself. If you are in a severe accident, your friends and family will have a legal framework that allows them to take care of you. If you do not have one, they will be forced to go through obtaining a conservatorship or guardianship. 

That can be a costly, time-consuming, and potentially an adversarial ordeal. And your friends or family will have to go through this process during an emotionally challenging time. 

Key Documents

The role of an estate planner is to assemble a collection of documents and turn them into a plan. For example, an Advance Medical Directive (also referred to as a living will) enables you to express your wishes regarding life-sustaining medical procedures. Imagine the pressure you could put on someone who has to make this decision without knowing what you would have wanted.

Healthcare powers of attorney and durable general powers of attorney grant others the right to make medical and financial decisions on your behalf. Think about who will pay your bills if you are incapacited? Who do you want making your healthcare decisions and do you have any specific instructions or wishes? Having these documents help your loved ones considerably.

Select Law Partners, PLLC

Make the responsible decision to create an estate plan. Despite not knowing what the future holds, your attorney can help you be prepared for it. Contact Select Law Partners to sit down with an experienced attorney and discuss your estate plan.

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Sara Josey

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