One day, you might be unable to make medical and monetary choices for yourself. You’ll require an airtight, free durable power of attorney form to guarantee people respect your wishes. In this post, we’ll show you which documents will get you ready for long-term decisions.
The Need to Plan Ahead
You just don’t know what the future holds. If you end up incapacitated or unable to choose your own health treatments, someone else must step in. With the right legal documents, you’ll have a way of knowing it’s someone you trust.
Without a plan in place, you’ll be playing with fire. Your loved ones may not know what your wishes are. For example, they might mishandle your investments or sell your house below your minimum asking price.
Making a Power of Attorney
A power of attorney arrangement is the most common way to prepare for these decisions. Even if you’re unconscious or suffering from dementia, your loved ones can decide on your behalf. It’s still your job to appoint someone as your “agent,” however.
Drafting a POA document costs hundreds of dollars at a minimum. Luckily, you could use a free online template. Just make sure you pick one that fits your state’s requirements. For example, a Kansas POA needs two witnesses. You’ll also need to arrange notarization.
Ensure your POA is durable, meaning it continues working even when you’re incapacitated. You also might still want to stay in control of these decisions for now. If so, use a springing POA that only “activates” once you can’t decide for yourself.
When you’re incapacitated, your rolling transactions should still proceed as expected. However, other financial matters, such as investments or taxes, won’t take care of themselves. As you get older, a POA will also help you limit the possibility of elder fraud.
A POA puts your assets or life (or possibly both) in someone else’s hands. Think carefully about the document’s specific conditions.
Choosing Your Power of Attorney’s Agent
Your agent is the person who’ll execute your POA’s wishes. They must be someone you trust to manage your affairs. Ideally, they’ll know you well enough to deal with situations your POA form doesn’t cover.
For example, the doctors might want to try a niche or experimental treatment you weren’t aware of. Your agent will use their knowledge of you to decide if you’d be okay with it. If they know you would decline other experimental treatments, they’ll say no.
In a severe health crisis, your agent will be the one to approve ending life support. If you’d want them to do this, pick someone you know can make the tough choices. A loved one will struggle with this; they might even keep you alive against your will.
You need more than just a close loved one. You need someone you trust to act how you would.
What Is an Advance Directive?
Like medical POAs, an advance directive lets you determine which treatments you approve or disapprove of. You could pair it alongside your power of attorney. Your agent will effectively have a “list” of which treatments you have vetoed.
While advance directives inform the agent’s decisions, they won’t be managing this document in the same way. In fact, your doctors will prioritize it over your POA. You should still ensure there’s no conflict between these forms.
When You Need an Advance Directive
An advance directive can be helpful in many situations. Simply having one can also give you full peace of mind about potential future health crises. Here are several major decisions an advance directive helps you with when incapacitated:
- Whether to agree to tube feeding or hydration
- Receiving a do-not-resuscitate (DNR) order
- Accepting or declining experimental treatments
- General long-term life support decisions
- Refusing treatments that go against your beliefs
- When to give up on aggressive treatments
As with a POA, an advance directive is vital when you can’t decide for yourself. In addition, your agent won’t always be available on short notice. Doctors will lose precious time waiting to figure out your wishes. An advance directive on your person (or in their files) could save your life.
Overviewing Your Plans
Your health and financial situations are constantly changing, so make time to update your plans regularly. If your medical boundaries change, your POA and advance directive must reflect this immediately. Otherwise, a doctor might follow your previous wishes by mistake.
Even when there are no significant life changes, you must still examine your documents yearly. You might, for example, think things over and realize you want to modify your financial POA. When a serious situation develops, you’ll need documents with up-to-date guidance.
Conclusion
You might not be responsible for all your future decisions. That means you need robust documents that help your loved ones tend to your needs. When putting these together, use free online templates to avoid high lawyer fees.
