For those of you thinking ahead, Mother’s Day is the 11th of May, 2025. Most of us send our mother flowers, good wishes and perhaps treat her to a nice meal. A more unique gift would be to help get her estate planning in order. There are many practical estate planning documents to consider.
For mothers of all ages, Powers of Attorney can help at a time of crisis. Who will make decisions for your mom when she is unable? A Power of Attorney names an agent to make financial and healthcare decisions. These documents are particularly valuable if one or more of the children will be taking over the decision making.
Powers of Attorney are usually separated into Healthcare and Financial categories. Each document can name different agents. Perhaps there is one child who is more comfortable making medical decisions while another child is skilled at managing finances. Your mother can also name more than one child. She can name the agents to act together as co-agents or act independently from each other. The independent arrangement is helpful if the children live a distance from each other and mom is fine with any one of them acting for her in the event of an emergency.
For younger mothers who have minor children, estate planning is important as it affects care and control of her minor children. In the event of a healthcare crisis, such as a car accident, a Standby Guardianship document can name a temporary guardian for the minor children. This is particularly valuable if the children’s is also unavailable. The temporary guardian will take custody of the minor children for 60 days. If the disability lasts longer than 60 days, a court can extend the time for the temporary guardianship.
Lastly, older mothers might be concerned about long-term care. Many mothers have not only cared for their children but their aging parents, so they are keenly aware of the expense of long-term care, particularly in a nursing facility. They may be concerned about losing their savings, including their home, to the costs of care. Asset Protection Trusts are useful for protecting homes and other assets from the costs of long-term care. Transfers to these trusts must be made at least 5 years before care is needed in order to avoid disqualification from Medicaid benefits that would pay for care in a nursing home.
If any of these estate planning documents sound like they would help your mother, don’t hesitate to consider giving her the gift of estate planning on this Mother’s Day (…in addition to the flowers).
