Ensure your Preferred Medical Care

Tuesday, August 4th, 2009

The main problem with estate plans today is that they don’t have any documents for health care.  Another serious problem is that they don’t understand the documents they have, or worse, they have the wrong documents.  Here are some documents you need to make sure that your wishes are followed:

• *Living Will - very simple to execute as most states recognize living wills officially.  The idea behind this is to avoid certain levels or types of care (also known as “heroic measures”) in different circumstances.  A very simple living will would state “I don’t want to prolong my life through any artificial means if I contracted a terminal illness with no hope for recovery.”  Although following this statement may result to a debate (since there is no exact definition of a terminal illness), it’s still necessary to guide your relatives on what to do when you’re brain dead or in a vegetative state.
• *Do not hospitalize/resuscitate order - DNH and DNR orders are common for older people in frail conditions, most especially those in nursing homes.  These people preferred to be in the comfort of their homes rather than pass away in a hospital.
• *Power of attorney/health care proxy - a document that appoints a person or several people to make the medical decisions when they’re unable to do so.

Tags: DNH, DNR, documents, health care, health-care proxy, living will, plans, power of attorney
Posted in Wills | No Comments »

Help Parents Manage Finances and Leave a Legacy

Thursday, July 16th, 2009

You’re very fortunate if your parents are still living.  However, it’s time for you to assist them on some areas of their life, more specifically on financial issues.  In fact, it’s imperative for you to be involved with them on these two things: managing finances on their retirement as well as leaving a legacy.

When your parents don’t initiate conversations on these things, it’s better if you start talking to them about it.  Who knows, you might find them willing to discuss these things with you more than you thought.  Encourage your parents to seek the help of an estate planning attorney to identify several ways on how they could pass their assets to the next generation.

Moreover, you may want to suggest that they check on beneficiaries designations of their qualified plans (such as IRAs, 401ks, etc.) or life insurance contracts. Maybe the family picture changed in the last couple of years, and they are really intending to change the designations.  They should take action now before it’s too late.

While it’s important for your parents to deal with legacy issues, they may still have numerous years ahead of them.  Therefore, you can also start discussing about their investments, savings, assets, and so on.  This kind of knowledge would be very helpful if you would become involved in distributing or managing their resources.

Tags: assets, attorney, estate planning attorney, finances, legacy, parents, plans, resources, retirement
Posted in Estate Planning | No Comments »

Make Estate Planning Your First Step after Divorce

Monday, July 6th, 2009

The last thing that people want to do after a divorce is to consult another attorney.  But regardless of your age and whether you have kids or not, it’s important to consult legal and financial experts to ensure that your financial plans and estate are updated in terms of reflecting your new circumstances.

So if you’re not working with an estate planning attorney or financial consultant during your divorce, it’s time for you to do it now.  A financial planner will look at your finances. Your expenses as a new single individual can grow unexpectedly; a financial planning professional helps you compare strategies and review your new savings and spending needs.

Also, talk with an attorney that has numerous experiences in real estate.  If you plan to remarry one day and you have kids, make sure that your specific assets will go to them (guaranteed) when you die.  This is because some cases happen when the ex-spouse may automatically gain full control of assets earmarked for your kids.  Of course you don’t want this to happen - that’s why you must plan for it legally.

If your children are still minors, it would also be wise to plan the guardianship for them.  Especially when there are wealth issues that’ll only become effective when they reach adulthood, it’s critical to establish a solid and efficient legal structure to distribute those assets.

Tags: attorney, Divorce, estate, Estate Planning, estate planning attorney, experts, financial, financial planner, legal, minors, plans
Posted in Estate Planning | No Comments »