By: Becky Eason
Not many people enjoy thinking about the end of their lives, let alone planning for it. Even though estate planning isn’t a “fun” topic it’s something that is critical for everyone to plan for. It’s never too early to start planning.
If you are young and in your pre-children years your estate plan is most likely very simple. There are a few basic documents that you should have, which include a Health Care Proxy (HCP), HIPAA Release Form and a Power of Attorney (POA).
A Health Care Proxy allows you to name someone to express your wishes and make health care decisions on your behalf if you’re unable to do so yourself. Make sure you have a conversation with your health care proxy to make sure they actually know what your wishes are.
A HIPAA Release Form authorizes medical providers to release your private health information to your named individuals. Without this form medical providers are very limited in the information they can give to anyone about your medical status. This can create a lot of additional stress for family members during a medical emergency. Once you reach the age of 18 medical providers can’t typically even release information to your parents or spouse without this form.
A Power of Attorney grants another person the ability to act on your behalf. There are different amounts of power that can be granted so you will want to work with an attorney to determine what is best for your specific needs. Because of the power granted you want to make sure the individual you list is someone that you completely trust. There can be many benefits to having a POA such as if you’re out of the country and you need something taken care of at home that can only be done in person, you have a person in place to handle it.
If you’re in the next stage of life and have a family, especially if you have minor children, you will want all of the documents stated above but you will also want to create a will. When you have children, you want to make sure you know who will be raising them in the event of your premature death. By default, if there is a surviving parent they will generally become the guardian. However, if both parents pass away at the same time your will can have a guardianship clause appointing your chosen guardian as well as a secondary guardian. Before naming a guardian it’s best to have a conversation with that individual/couple to make sure that they would be willing to raise your children. Wills have additional provisions in them, but for young families the guardianship section is super important.
The next stage of life is for parents whose children are no longer minors and also for couples without any children. At this point you may want to revisit all of your estate documents and update them accordingly. You may want to update your Health Care Proxy, HIPAA Release Forms, and Power of Attorney to give you children additional authority over your well being. You may also want to update your will at this time. Life is always changing and it’s best to make sure that the individuals named in your estate documents are still living and still the best choice. You can also remove your guardianship clause and confirm your executor(s) or change them at this time.
As you age you may also want to consider prepaying for your funeral expenses. You may also want to pre-plan your final wishes which for example may include deciding if you want calling hours or a celebration of life. Putting these wishes in writing is a best practice because upon your passing it’s likely that your loved ones will be under a great deal of stress and emotion and may not be able to remember the details of your wishes.
Hopefully your estate plan won’t need to be implemented in the near future, but life is very unpredictable and it’s best to plan for the worst case scenario. Working with an estate planning attorney is the best way to plan for the unexpected.