∙
ensure that your values will be respected and your intentions
followed in the event of your illness;
∙
permit your trusted family members to manage finances and have
access to needed health information if you are incapacitated;
∙
protect your family from the cost of your health care and long-term
care expenses;
∙
provide for family members with special needs such as a disability;
∙
avoid family disputes;
∙
protect and provide for your family after you are gone.
Creating
a Comprehensive Estate Plan
Comprehensive
planning starts by planning for the remainder of your life. You need to
create a life plan that will protect your lifestyle and financial security
and help you attain your goals during the rest of your lifetime.
Especially
important is planning for the possibility of our incapacity.
Who should be authorized to step in and manage our finances if
needed?
Who should have access to our personal medical information?
What financial and medical decisions should they be authorized to
make?
What
if we need long-term care?
What can we do to make sure we are able to stay at home rather than
in a nursing facility?
What if we do need nursing home care?
The costs are staggering - now over $80,000 a year, with an average
stay of 2 ˝ years. This can quickly destroy your family’s financial
security. With advance planning you can protect your family from this
risk.
If
you are married, a comprehensive estate plan will help ensure that your
spouse will be able to live his or her remaining years with dignity and
financial security. At your death, it can preserve an inheritance to pass
along to your family in a manner that will not be squandered because of
inexperience, illness, or a marriage gone bad.
Created
with the help of your lawyer and financial advisors, your plan will show
you how your assets can best be utilized for your benefit and ultimately
protected and preserved for the benefit of your intended beneficiaries.
Implementing
Your Plan
Once
you have devised your plan, it needs to be implemented.
Implementation usually involves a number of legal, financial, and
health care documents, such as the following:
∙
Power of Attorney
For
most people there is no legal document that has the potential to become as
important in their lives as a power of attorney.
In the event of your incapacity, a power of attorney can help
ensure that the desired decisions will be made for you by the people you
choose. A well-drafted power of attorney will increase the likelihood that
your values will always be respected and that your family can be protected
from your health care costs.
A
power of attorney can be the key that opens the door to effective asset
protection planning and the preservation of your family's financial
security. The document, however, must be carefully crafted in order to
authorize this type of planning. The absence of appropriate authorizations
in a power of attorney can seriously jeopardize your family’s financial
security. And a poorly drafted power of attorney can be a license to
steal.
∙
Health Care Directives and Authorizations
The
health care power of attorney and the living will are documents that give
you some measure of control over the medical treatment you will receive if
you ever become incompetent.
The health care power of attorney is more flexible because it is
not limited to just terminal illness situations.
Recent federal rules may be used by health care providers to deny
your family access to your health information and participation in your
care. You
need to authorize the right family members to have access to your
information and provide them with the authority to serve as advocates and
decision makers for you.
∙
Asset Protection Documents
In
addition to an asset protection power of attorney, specialized deeds,
trusts, and other agreements may help protect your assets in the even that
you (or your spouse) should ever require long-term care either at home or
in a nursing facility.
∙
Last Will and Testament
In
this document you can give important instructions regarding how your
property should be distributed after your death, who will care for your
children and other loved ones, and much more. Your will helps assure that
your assets will be distributed to the persons you want in the right
amounts and at the right times. Your will can help reduce or eliminate the
taxes that will be levied against your estate, avoid family conflicts, and
provide for religious, educational, or other charitable causes. If you
have young children, your will is the legal document you use to name a
guardian for them.
∙
Ownership & Beneficiary Designations
At
your death, the transfer of some of your property will likely occur
without regard to the provisions of your will. Joint accounts, life
insurance, annuities, IRAs and other retirement plans, and other assets
for which beneficiaries have been named are all distributed without regard
to what your will says. You need to create a plan that covers all of your
assets.
Comprehensive estate planning requires a coordinated review and
update of all of your ownership and beneficiary arrangements.
∙
Trusts
Trusts
are particularly useful if you have a family member with a disability.
Specialized trusts can be used to hold funds to enhance the
beneficiary’s life without jeopardizing their eligibility for government
benefits.
Individuals and married couples can set up trusts that will protect
their assets from the cost of care in the event of a future disability. In
addition, trusts can sometimes be used to minimize taxes.
The
benefits of comprehensive estate planning are compelling.
Once your plan has been implemented, you will enjoy the peace of
mind of knowing that you have done all you can to protect yourself and
your family from whatever the future may hold.
It is never too early to get started. Just make certain that your
estate planning is comprehensive.
Jeff Marshall is
Certified as an Elder Law Attorney by the National Elder Law Foundation
and is the author of Elder Law in Pennsylvania. He is the managing
attorney of the Elder Law Firm of Marshall & Associates with offices
in
Jersey
Shore, Williamsport
and
Wilkes-Barre
. He can be contacted at webmail@paelderlaw.com.
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Marshall & Associates www.paelderlaw.com
