NEWSLETTER JULY 2016
THIS STUFF IS FOR KIDS TOO
While I draft a lot of Healthcare Durable Powers of Attorney and General Durable Powers of Attorney for my middle-age and elder clients, don’t forget your kids. Especially, when they graduate from high school or turn age 18. They too need the same protection so in case, heaven forbid, something happens to them, an agent, usually a parent, can make financial and healthcare decisions for them. This doesn’t matter whether they have gone off to college, just taking some time off, or whether they are working. Due to a tragic event, sometimes a guardianship and conservatorship is needed for a young adult. But this can be avoided by having powers of attorney in place. On a personal note, every time one of my daughters turned age 18 I drafted for them these powers of attorney along with a living will and a HIPAA Authorization Letter. I put copies in a file folder for them to take to school and copies for the glove box in their car. Thank God I didn’t have to use them but I was prepared.
On a different note, when I was a kid and my parents would go out-of-town for a weekend vacation or a business trip, while my parents were away, my Great Aunt Nellie would stay with my brother, sister and I. And we were excited because we got to do anything we wanted. But looking back, if something would have happened to one of us kids, my Aunt had no authority to deal with certain situations. This problem can be remedied by having a temporary power of attorney authorizing a caretaker to deal with medical emergencies, health care treatment and school matters in the absence of the children’s parents.
How does the saying go? “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” And you can accomplish this not only on your own behalf but on behalf of your children and grandchildren as well.
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