Estate Planning is for Children Too

Wednesday, September 30th, 2009

Do you know that when your children reach 18 years old, you will no longer be allowed to make medical decisions for them?  Actually, your right to see their medical records or speak to their doctor is no longer compulsory enforced.

Any parent has a fear of hearing that their child was involved in a medical emergency - whether it’s a physical catastrophe or a car accident, they would usually be notified or rushed into action.  However, under the law, your own 18-year old and above children need to name you as a health-care proxy first before you can have anything to say about their medical treatment.

Health-care proxies are documents allowing you to assign another person to make medical decisions for you if you’re unable to do it yourself.  Another document, called the living will, is a statement of medical wishes if you become ill.

Therefore, estate planning is not only for seniors.  Adult children should also have durable power of attorney as well as a health-care proxy too.  Since these are complicated documents, it’s best to speak to your family attorney.  If you don’t have one, just seek advice from any qualified estate planning attorney in your state.

Tags: adult, attorney, children, documents, Estate Planning, health-care proxy, law, living will, medical, parent, seniors, will
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Boomers Retirement Plans

Friday, August 14th, 2009

Times have changed, and the priorities come along with it.  This is true for the seniors and baby boomers as well.  Today, it’s more essential than before to plan your future given the increasing financial abuse received by seniors from caregivers or loved ones and the tough economic times.

Until now, the preceding American generation had been better off economically compared to their parents due to their inheritance, thriving economy, and job opportunities.  However, recent times don’t seem to be well.  It would be a good bet if the boomers will inherit a single title from their parents.  And the boomer’s children may even get less.

All these mean that seniors and boomers need to develop a plan for life, due to possible incapacity and inevitable death.  This planning process does not only involve “estate planning” or “financial planning” but “life planning,” “death planning,” “burial planning,” “nursing home or long-term care planning,” and even “pet planning” as well.

Creating and implementing these plans would need a huge multidisciplinary effort coming from a qualified team of professionals.  Among others, see a lawyer to help you handle your assets and complete your plan in case of incapacity, disability, and death.

Tags: American, baby boomers, death, disability, Estate Planning, incapacity, lawyer, priorities, seniors
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An Amicable Senior Divorce

Wednesday, June 10th, 2009

These days, there is a growing divorce rate among seniors as people live longer. And when seniors divorce, they confront different problems compared to the younger ones. Younger couples usually focus on visitation and child support issues while these are some considerations for a senior divorce:

· Life Insurance – is there a policy?

· House – seniors usually have more home value than young couples. Sometimes, they even own more than one home.

· Retirement benefits – do the beneficiary need to be changed when one spouse has been relying on the other one’s retirement benefits?

· Health insurance – typically, one spouse is relying on the health insurance of the other.

Since these issues may be expensive to litigate and complicated to deal with, a mediator can help facilitate an amicable settlement and sort through these issues. They can also work them in a less contentious and cheaper way than bringing it to court. These mediators can meet with the couple and allow a discussion in a non-confrontational manner. The common goal is to address both spouses’ interest and produce an agreed settlement.

Remember that some attorney’s can also function as mediators. They may not necessarily bring the case to court if not needed. Once a mediated agreement has been signed, it only needs to be filed in court and is considered binding.

Tags: attorneys, Divorce, health insurance, house, life insurance, mediation, mediator, retirement benefits, Senior Divorce, seniors
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