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Legal Planning Protects Your Rights and Wishes
Elder law attorney specialize in the issues and documents you need to complete.
Legal Planning Protects Your Rights and Wishes
Elder law attorney specialize in the issues and documents you need to complete.
Be Bold. Be Brave. Be in Control.
A power of attorney can be used for many things, but the most common uses include managing finances, making healthcare decisions, managing real estate and other assets, and conducting business transactions on behalf of the principal. It’s important to choose someone you trust, and to have a conversation with them about what you expect of them before you grant the power of attorney.
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How to Document and Communicate Your Final Wishes
Planning for the Future: A Guide to Essential Legal Documents for Seniors
As we journey through life, it’s crucial to prepare for the future, ensuring our wishes are honored and our loved ones are taken care of. Today, I’ll guide you through the essential legal documents you need to safeguard your assets, healthcare decisions, and final wishes. Let’s break down each document in simple terms, so you can understand their importance and how they can protect you and your family.
What is a Will?
A will is a legal document that outlines how you want your assets to be distributed after you pass away. It allows you to specify who will inherit your property, belongings, and finances. Creating a will ensures that your wishes are carried out and can help prevent disputes among family members. Be sure to update your will regularly, especially after significant life events like marriages, divorces, or births.
What is a Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) Order?
A DNR order is a medical directive that instructs healthcare providers not to perform CPR if your heart stops or you stop breathing. It’s essential to discuss your wishes with your doctor and family members to ensure they understand your decision. Keep a copy of your DNR order in a visible place, such as on your refrigerator or in your medical records.
What is a Final Wishes Document?
Final wishes document your preferences for end-of-life arrangements, including burial or cremation, funeral services, and any specific requests you may have. Communicate your wishes to your loved ones and consider pre-planning your funeral or memorial service to alleviate the burden on your family during a difficult time.
How do I Give My Stuff Away?
Estate planning involves organizing and managing your assets to ensure they are distributed according to your wishes. It includes creating a will, establishing trusts, and minimizing taxes on your estate. Consult with an estate planning attorney to develop a comprehensive plan that meets your unique needs and goals.
How do I get a Power of Attorney (POA)?
A power of attorney is a legal document that grants someone the authority to make financial or legal decisions on your behalf if you become incapacitated. Choose a trusted individual, such as a family member or close friend, to act as your agent and ensure they understand your wishes and preferences.
How do I get a Healthcare Proxy?
A healthcare proxy, also known as a healthcare power of attorney, appoints someone to make medical decisions on your behalf if you are unable to do so. Select a reliable and trustworthy individual who understands your healthcare preferences and values. Discuss your medical wishes with your proxy and provide them with a copy of your advance directive.
What is a POLST (Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment) Form?
A POLST form is a medical order that outlines your preferences for life-sustaining treatments, such as CPR, intubation, and artificial nutrition. It provides guidance to healthcare providers in emergency situations and ensures your wishes are respected. Discuss the contents of your POLST form with your doctor and family members to ensure they understand your preferences.
Get Legal Advice
In conclusion, preparing these essential legal documents is a proactive step towards securing your future and ensuring your wishes are honored. Take the time to discuss your preferences with your loved ones and consult with legal and medical professionals to ensure your documents accurately reflect your wishes. By planning ahead, you can have peace of mind knowing that you’ve taken the necessary steps to protect yourself and your family.
Notes from the Author
Declare Your Final Wishes in a Living Will
Ugh, death. What a dreadful subject. Nothing is more heart wrenching than watching the one you love to die or being presented with the news of your own mortality. If money could prevent death, I believe we would all be saving our pennies in earnest. So, I propose this holiday season you give your loved ones a gift that money cannot buy.
Many religions believe in the afterlife, so they encourage the true believers to celebrate death as a glorious delivery into a better place. The problem is that incredibly emotional goodbye at the onset of dying that is the worst. Recall your reaction to the news of a loved one’s prognosis. Ugh. So many draining and conflicting emotions. Of course, you don’t want someone to die but you don’t want the suffering to continue either. The choice seems to run from bad to worse.
Do you know how you want to die? Have you written out your final wishes?
Take for example the last ambulance ride and hospital stay at the time of death. Doctors are trained to sustain life and many refuse to spend time counseling patients and families on the course of a natural death. Have you expressed if you want to be resuscitated? Have a feeding or breathing tube inserted?
Here’s the reality once you arrive at the Emergency Department in distress, the hospital machine kicks into high gear. Testing and diagnosing with multiple specialists at the bedside do their very best to stabilize and transfer you onto your next setting. At the end of life this most often mean the ICU – Intensive Care Unit.
I want you to join me in an out of body experience. You are lying arms and legs strapped to your ICU bed with a breathing tube and multiple needles and lines attached to your arms. All you can hear is the beeps and rhythmic percussions of your breathing machine which is the dull background to the weeping and cracking voices of your loved ones.
I would have to search long and hard to identify one person who would choose this as their last farewell. The drug induced state of an ICU is no time or place to say goodbye to those you love more than life itself.
Here’s my challenge to you – complete your medical Declarations and share them. Decide now how you want your final moments and remains to be handled. Then use the upcoming holidays as a time to share them with those you love. REUNIONCare is the perfect place to store and communicate your final wishes in a safe Circle of Care environment.
There is so much confusion when it comes to dying and healthcare in the United States. This new century is an opportunity to create a new approach toward our life and death issues.
The aggressive medical heroics of continuing to treat a terminal disease in hopes of a cure are amazing stories. Terminal care most often focuses on a disease state, an organ system. It’s clinical. It’s like an extraterrestrial has found its way into the body that must be battled. It’s so mysterious. Reality sets in when the aggressive treatment leads to complications, depression, financial bankruptcy and/or some other factor that finally exhausts the viable treatment options.
Hospice is the end-of-life comprehensive care for a gentler sendoff in the final phase of a terminal disease. Hospice takes a team approach for this final journey. Hospice home care takes an interdisciplinary team approach to crafting an individualized, culturally sensitive plan caring for the patient, caregivers, and family members alike. Hospice facilities create a new care model to support and honor the life of the individual.
Palliative care tells the truth about the terminal disease. Palliative care starts at the time of diagnosis focusing on what you hold sacred. Palliative care practitioners have honest conversations about the diagnosis and prognosis not to scare patient but to facilitate acceptance and honest planning. Join us at REUNIONCare in creating a Circle of Care to support this life to death journey.
Consider The Following:
- Do you have a current Durable Power of Attorney for properties?
- Do you have a valid Durable Power of Attorney for your finances?
- Do you expect your Power of Attorney to perform your banking tasks?
- Do you have a valid Will for Social Media accounts?
- Have you executed a will for your property?
- Have you shared your finances and end-of-life plans with your Power of Attorney?
- Did you appoint a representative to handle your retirement and pension (Social Security), Medicare, and other insurance issues and all other financial matters when you are not capable of performing these tasks for yourself?
- Have you discussed your financial matters with trusted family members?
- Have you organized your legal, personal, financial, and important documents so that trusted family and representatives can find them?
- Have you shared the location of these documents?
- Have you contacted a legal professional or lifetime planner to assist you with these tasks?
Monica Stynchula – CEO / REUNIONCare, Inc.
