Archive for July, 2015
Helping an Aging Family Member Plan for the Future
Take Control While You Can
The importance of advance planning for aging adults (especially those suffering from chronic illnesses) cannot be overstated. Without the right legal and financial documentation, caregivers and their loved ones could be faced with a host of problems in an emergency. Doctors may refuse to discuss important medical information with a caregiver, a dying elder may not get the end-of-life care they desire, and control over an incapacitated loved one’s bank accounts and property could be given to a complete stranger.
6 Must-Have Legal Documents for Family Caregivers
You can help a loved one plan for their current and future medical and financial needs by working with them to prepare six essential legal documents, described in further detail below:
Important documents for managing medical care
- HIPAA Authorization: The Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) aims to protect medical record privacy. This law prevents doctors and other medical professionals from discussing an individual’s health information with anyone but that person. Even caregivers can’t to access an elderly loved one’s medical records, or talk to their doctor, until they sign a HIPAA form. Fortunately, this document is easy to obtain; most doctor’s offices have extra copies on hand.
- Healthcare Power of Attorney (POA): This document allows an individual to grant legal authority to a trusted relative (i.e. the family caregiver), or friend, to make healthcare decisions on their behalf. A person with healthcare POA can determine (among other things) where an elder lives, what they eat, who bathes them, and what medical care they receive. (*see note below)
- Advance Healthcare Directive: An advance healthcare directive combines a healthcare POA with a living will. A living will outlines how an individual wishes their end-of-life care to be managed (i.e. aggressive medical care versus hospice care), and may also include a Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) order, or instruction not to insert a feeding tube if they become incapable of eating on their own. Learn how to Avoid the Number One Mistake Elders Make With Healthcare Directives.
Important documents for managing finances
- Financial Power of Attorney (POA): A financial POA gives a trusted family member, or friend, the ability to make legally-binding decisions about a person’s financial assets. An individual with financial POA has the authority to manage their loved one’s finances, which may include paying bills, liquidating assets to cover expenses, or making other investment decisions. (*see note below)
- Trust: Trusts—essential estate planning documents that specify how a person wishes certain assets to be disbursed—come in several different varieties. Each type of trust has its own rules and requirements that affect how funds will be distributed after a loved one passes away. The main difference between a will and a trust is that a trust can be enacted while a person is still alive, or after they have died. A will only goes into effect after an individual has passed on.
- Will: There are many different kinds of wills, each with different stipulations regarding how assets and property are to be doled out after a person dies. As previously mentioned, a will can only be activated by the death of the individual. For more information on writing wills, see What is a Will and Why Every Senior Should Have One.
An elder law attorney can assist with the preparation of these documents; as well as valuable guidance for taking into account your loved one’s individual situation and preferences when planning for the future.
Don’t Wait for Disaster to Strike
Getting the necessary documents in order before a medical or financial disaster strikes can make an extremely difficult situation just a bit easier to navigate. Knowing that you’re carrying out your loved one’s wishes, even though they may not be able to voice them, can ease the crushing feelings of guilt and doubt than caregivers often experience in these situations.
*An additional note about POA: There can be confusion with regards to the difference between “durable” and “nondurable” powers of attorney. A durable POA is one that endures a person’s incapacitation, meaning that, until a person either passes away, or is able to regain control of their own affair, the POA remains in effect. This is as opposed to a nondurable POA, which becomes null upon a pre-defined contingency—such as a particular date, or in the event of a person’s incapacitation. For additional information on POA, see: Things You Can and Can’t Do With POA.
Provided courtesy of AgingCare.com, the go-to destination for family caregivers. AgingCare.com provides resources and guidance through financial and legal concerns, such as guardianship of elderly parents. This article is one of a series of articles included in the eBook, Family Caring for Family. Download your free copy at www.AgingCare.com/ebook.