Wills and POAs

There is no substitute for having legal documents that clearly spell out the who, what, when, where, and how of your wishes for your heirs. Having well-drafted legal documents that precisely outline your wishes is irreplaceable. Without clear instructions, passing on generational wealth becomes challenging. Consulting a skilled trusts and estates attorney is invaluable in this process.

Health Care Related

Health care plays a major role in our finances. Here are terms to know for future healthcare-related needs.

DPOA for HC (Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care Decisions)

Also called the Healthcare Power of Attorney.

This is a signed and notarized/witnessed legal paper that allows a person to name someone to make health care decisions for him/her during a time of disability or incapacity. (The person who has the power of attorney is called the health care agent, proxy, or surrogate.)

They can be fairly general or very specific and can include decisions about going to the hospital, choice of doctors, and/or long-term care. It can also include refusing or withdrawing consent for use of life-sustaining procedures and consent for organ donation and autopsy.

This may be effective immediately or may be made effective only when the person lacks the capacity (as determined by a physician) to make or communicate decisions.

Common Questions:

  • When does a power of attorney take effect?

    • When the principal person becomes legally incapacitated. Physical incapacitation can mean when the person enters into a coma or has a stroke making communication impossible. Mental incapacitation is when mental disease destroys the principal’s ability to rationally make decisions.

  • When is it appropriate to have a DPOA (durable power of attorney) for healthcare in place?

    • Anyone 18 years and older. It can be beneficial for married couples to draft a power of attorney and a medical power of attorney at the same time they draft a will.

  • Does a DPOA for healthcare have to be notarized?

    • It should be notarized to be recognized by any state; however, it can work in the case of an emergency if it was witnessed.

  • When does a Power of Attorney end?

    • Typically they end at the death of the principal as this document is usually used when the person’s condition is serious, however, if the principal makes a full recovery and is no longer considered incapacitated, then this would end. This can mean a person has come out of a coma, recovered after a stroke, or even recovered from a debilitating mental disease.

Living Will

This is a signed and notarized/witnessed form that allows a person to state in advance that his/her dying should not be artificially prolonged in cases of a terminal illness. This decision may only be made by the patient or by the person designated on the DPOA for HC.

A Living Will only applies when the person has been diagnosed and certified as terminally ill by two doctors. (Terminally ill usually means that death will probably occur within six months regardless of whether life-sustaining treatments are used.

Comfort care may be given with a Living Will.

Advance Medical Treatment Directive

This can be any paper in which a person records his/her wishes regarding future medical treatment.

It may be a checklist, a narrative statement, or a letter to the physician or the person’s healthcare agent.

Do-Not-Resuscitate (DNR)

This is a form signed, dated, and witnessed form that lets an adult say in advance his/her decision that if their heart stops beating or breathing stops, no medical procedure will be done to restart the heart or breathing, however, other appropriate emergency medical care may be given.

This paper must also be signed by the attending physician as “medically appropriate” unless the person’s church or religion recognizes treatment by spiritual means only.

*Be sure to keep this form on the front of the refrigerator or another easily seen place.

Common Questions:

  • Is a DNR (do-not-resuscitate) the same as a Living Will?

    • No. DNRs do not need notarized, but they do need to be signed by a physician. For some states/counties, the original DNR is needed, and for others, a copy will do.

Review Policies and Prepare Your Paperwork

Periodically review important documents.

  • Review Insurance Policies

    • Rapid inflation has hit almost everything we buy making the cost to build or repair anything a lot more expensive. Review your home and auto insurance policies at least every few years to ensure you will still have adequate coverage if needed. Without proper coverage, you may find yourself unable to rebuild or replace your home or vehicle in the event of an unexpected disaster.

  • Review Wills, POAs, and life insurance policies

    • Life can change very rapidly, so be sure to review your will, any power of attorney you may have set up or should set up, and your life insurance policies as you want to ensure your loved ones are taken care of and that you are not leaving anything up for grabs for the state.

  • Make a “What if?” folder

    • This is a folder that contains all your personal information for loved ones should something unforeseen happen to you. This may contain your personal information such as contacts, medical information, insurance information, household expenses, a list of your bills with due dates, a net worth statement along with instructions for accessing your accounts, and end-of-life arrangements. This might even include other important paperwork such as birth certificates, titles, passports, and maybe even a few pictures.

  • Secure paperwork

    • When it comes to this paperwork, a safe is a great place to store this information, however, remember that even though a safe might claim to be fireproof, the temperatures inside a safe during a fire could get hot enough or stay hot long enough to make paper documents unreadable. Place important paperwork inside a fire-resistant case/bag inside a bigger fireproof safe for extra protection.