What is Incapacity Planning?

Planning ahead when it comes to your health care, your financial needs, and more is always a good idea. Estate planning allows Gwinnett County residents to make plans about how their assets will be inherited, who should serve as a guardian for their minor children if something unexpected happens, how they will pay for certain types of health care in the future while protecting their assets, who can make financial decisions or health care decisions on their behalf, and much more. Part of this is incapacity planning. Although no one in Georgia wants to consider the possibility of unexpected incapacity due to an accident or medical emergency, or due to diagnosis with a terminal illness or one leading to cognitive impairment, incapacity does occur.

All adults should consider some form of incapacity planning, and it is especially important for older adults who have been diagnosed with health issues that may soon lead to incapacity. What are some of the key components of incapacity planning? Consider the following from our Georgia estate planning attorneys.

Establishing a Revocable Living Trust

You should establish a revocable living trust with a successor trustee named in the event of your incapacity. A revocable living trust can hold nearly all of your property, and you can control it entirely up until your death or your incapacity. It can allow for your needs during your lifetime, and it can allow your beneficiaries to inherit assets without going through probate. By creating this type of trust and naming a successor trustee, you can ensure that your assets will be managed by someone you trust in the event of your incapacity.

Creating a Durable Financial Power of Attorney 

Everyone should also have a durable financial power of attorney (POA) on file. A durable financial POA allows a person you trust (your “agent”) to handle financial matters on your behalf. By making a “durable” POA, you ensure that the document remains in effect in the event of your incapacity. Some people will also create this document as a “springing” POA, meaning that it only takes effect if you become incapacitated.

Completing a Georgia Advance Directive for Health Care

There are several important components in a Georgia Advance Directive for Health Care, and two of them relate directly to incapacity planning:

• Naming a health care agent to make health care decisions for you in the event you become incapacitated; and
• Naming a guardian for yourself in the event of your future incapacity.

Contact a Norcross Estate Planning Attorney for Assistance with Your Incapacity Planning 

Nobody wants to think about the possibility of incapacity in the future. It can be scary to think about needing another person to make crucial decisions for us, or to be physically and mentally unable to voice our own wishes. Yet incapacitation happens more often than you might think, and it can result from medical conditions or unexpected and traumatic accidents at any age. Part of estate planning should involve incapacity planning. This is particularly true for older adults who have already been diagnosed with an incapacitating disease like Alzheimer’s — it is essential to make plans while you still have the capacity to do so. An experienced Norcross estate planning lawyer at Bowman Law Firm can help you. Contact us today for assistance.

Source:

law.justia.com/codes/georgia/title-53/