Off to College? Don’t Forget Your Health Directive!
August 25, 2011
The hot and lazy days of summer are almost over; parents are thinking about back-to-school sales, kids are making the most of their final days of freedom, and college freshmen are getting ready to embark on their first year of adult-hood. Most of these college students have a list (whether mental or physical) of all the things they’ll need as they leave the nest for the first time, but most of these lists will be missing two key items: A Healthcare Directive and a HIPAA Form.
You may be wondering why a college student needs estate planning documents—aren’t those just for older, established people? Not at all.
Most incoming college students are now (or will soon be) 18, and considered adults under the law. This means that hospitals and medical personnel are no longer required to ask the parent’s permission before performing medical procedures. In fact, once your child is 18 health care providers are no longer required to share information with the parents at all.
Most college students (and parents) are unaware of this side-effect of turning 18, and parents and children alike can run into frustrating roadblocks should an accident occur. You can avoid these roadblocks by simply having your young adult execute the two simple documents mentioned in this blog post.
A Healthcare Directive can be an in depth document or a very simple one, but the most important part for your new 18 year old will be the nomination of a healthcare agent. A healthcare agent is the person who will make medical decisions for your child if he or she is unable to make them alone.
A HIPPA Authorization Form addresses the issue of security and privacy of health data. In a HIPAA form your child can list the people who have permission to receive information about his or her medical records and status.
For a fledgling 18 year old these two documents are of the utmost importance, and with the right help, they are very easy to execute. Don’t wait until it’s too late; make sure your young adult has these documents completed before they leave the nest.
Minnesota Health Care Dispute Raises Fears for Everyone
February 5, 2011
Taking Time for End-Of-Life Planning
January 1, 2011
Advance Health Care Directives (legal documents which include a nomination of your health care agent, and your preferences for end-of-life care) saw a lot of press in 2009 when the Obama administration sought to include end-of-life planning in the new healthcare overhaul. The option was dropped after a media firestorm about “death panels,” but according to this article in the New York Times Medicare-funded end-of-life discussions may be back.
According to the new regulation, Medicare will pay for “voluntary advance care planning” as part of patients’ annual visits with their doctor. “Under the new policy, outlined in a Medicare regulation, the government will pay doctors who advise patients on options for end-of-life care, which may include advance directives to forgo aggressive life-sustaining treatment.”
The reasoning behind the new regulation is simple, and something estate planning lawyers have known for a long time; “research [has] shown the value of end-of-life planning. ‘Advance care planning improves end-of-life care and patient and family satisfaction and reduces stress, anxiety and depression in surviving relatives.’” Additionally, “end-of-life discussions between doctor and patient help ensure that one gets the care one wants.”
So why does end-of-life planning make so many people uncomfortable when research has shown just how beneficial it can be? Paula Span, author of this post on the New Old Age blog thinks it might simply be a matter of semantics, especially when it involved the term “Do Not Resuscitate.” Ms. Span argues that a more friendly term such as “Allow Natural Death” could make all the difference in the world.
“The phrase “do not resuscitate” signals an intent to withhold or refuse… ‘It says you’re not going to do something.’ To “allow natural death,” on the other hand, connotes permission. ‘It doesn’t sound so overwhelming or scary.’”
Whatever term you use, or however you choose to talk about it, the important thing is that you DO talk about it—with your family and loved ones, with the person you choose as your agent, with your doctor… and even with your lawyer. End-of-life planning is about personal and medical preferences, but the document itself is a legal one; your lawyer can help ensure that your Advance Health Care Directive will hold up in a court of law as well as in the hospital.
Debunking 5 Common Estate Planning Myths
August 28, 2010
There are five common myths that frustrate all estate planners—particularly because we know that not only are they patently untrue, but also because their continued circulation can be harmful.
1. Estate Planning is only for rich people. This is probably the single most common estate planning myth there is—and it is a myth. When people add up the value of their home, their life insurance, savings, retirement account, etc., etc., etc. they often find that they are much closer to being a “rich person” than they thought. Not only this, but as we’ll get into in more detail below, estate planning is not only about saving on estate taxes, it’s also about controlling your wealth and protecting your own needs when the unexpected occurs. It is also about planning for long term care, an expense often overlooked.
2. “I have plenty of time.” AKA: Only old people need estate plans. First of all, just because you’re young doesn’t mean bad things can’t happen to you. But you know this, and anyway, this post is not about fear. Unexpected tragedies aside, an estate plan is useful even when you’re young because an estate plan is not just about death. A good estate plan will include not only a will, but also a healthcare directive and HIPAA Authorization (both of which are useful if you find yourself facing a surprise stay in the hospital), Power of Attorney documents (which you may need if you ever travel outside the country or are otherwise unable to sign for yourself on financial or legal documents), and legal documents relating to minor children (such as medical authorizations—an essential document if you leave your minor child with a babysitter for any extended period of time.)
3. Married people don’t need estate plans. While it is true that a married person with straightforward wishes for the distribution of their property has less need of estate planning, it does not necessarily follow that they can skip estate planning altogether. Under normal circumstances, any jointly held property will pass to the surviving spouse upon the death of the first spouse… But what happens if the surviving spouse gets re-married? What about the property you would specifically like to go to your children, or to your parents or siblings? And what if both you and your spouse die together? These are the reasons why even married people should consider drawing up at least a simple plan.
4. All I need is a quick will and I’m done. A quick will is certainly better than no will. And if you want to be technical, you don’t even need a quick will; after all, your state of residence has a plan already in place for you. The problem is that it may not be the plan you want. There is a saying that “anything worth doing is worth doing well.” This goes for wills (or any other legal document) as well. If you want the basics you can have the basics. But if you want the best, you’re going to need to spend a little more time on it.
5. Estate Planning is only about money. Although money is often one of the main motivating factors behind creating an estate plan, money is absolutely not what estate planning is all about. Estate planning is about people. It’s about your family and doing what’s right for them. Estate planning is not just about saving your family from estate taxes, or making sure Junior gets the house; it’s about leaving them peace of mind. A well thought-out will or trust saves them from a lengthy probate process, but also reassures your children that they are doing what mom or dad really would have wanted. And sometimes a well designed plan might include a personal statement of values and wishes for your spouse and children, a writing that is sometimes called a memorandum of intent. Indeed, such a personal statement can give you the opportunity to express certain things that you may not have been able to express during life. An estate plan is full of documents designed not just to save you or your heirs money, but to allow you to express your wishes and values even after your death. Estate Planning is about more than just money—it’s about family, legacy, and love.
One More BIG Reason to Have a Health Care Directive
April 17, 2010
Do you have a health care directive? If not, the Los Angeles Times has just given you one more reason to create one: Advance directives for end-of-life care result in preferred treatment.
That’s right, according to the recent article; those people who have recorded their wishes for end-of-life treatment have their wishes followed by agents and doctors over 80% of the time. According to a health and retirement study done between the years of 2000 and 2006, “researchers found that of the 398 incapacitated people who had used a living will to request limited care at the end of life, almost 83% received it…” and “…Of the 417 incapacitated people who had requested comfort care in a living will, 97% received it.”
Those are huge percentages, especially when you consider how easy it is to create a health care directive or living will.
There is no down side to recording your wishes and nominating a trusted agent to help ensure those wishes are followed—it brings you peace mind, it brings comfort to your family members, and our office can help you execute one quickly and easily. Knowing all this, as well as the fact that studies now show how truly effective they are in getting you the treatment you desire… there’s really no reason to delay any longer. Call our office for more information.
Facing the BIG Picture
March 7, 2010
We frequently urge you here on our blog to create the documents necessary to protect yourself in case of emergency, and to ensure that your family and loved ones know your wishes for health care if you are ever unable to make those decisions yourself. But a recent article on MSNBC reminds us that creating the documents isn’t always enough.
The article by Susan Brink details the final days of Bunny Olenick, 87-year-old mother and grandmother, whose massive stroke in December of 2008 threw her family into a state of confusion… in spite of the fact that she had done all the right things.
“Olenick had done all she could to give her family instructions about her death. She had spoken to her sons about her wishes, filled out an advance directive, a living will, and had named her sons as health care proxies — all legally accepted documents and procedures designed to insure that a person’s end-of-life wishes are spelled out and honored. Yet even they weren’t prepared for the many difficult questions they faced.”
The questions they faced were a surprising mixture of technical and metaphysical: Did “life-support” include temporary nasogastric tubes for nutrition?—How exactly does one define “Quality of Life?”—Was a short-term oxygen mask okay, even though a respirator was against her wishes?—And Bunny’s own heart-breaking question upon waking up in a hospital bed, “Why am I still here?”
Bunny’s story illustrates for all of us the importance not only of creating the appropriate legal documents, but also creating the time and space to talk to our loved ones about these difficult situations. Our firm can help you to create an estate plan that will protect your loved ones and guide your agents in your wishes… but the documents are only a small part of the process. Talk to your family about the process of creating your estate plan: the how and why of your important decisions. Knowing why you made the choices you did will help your family accept your decisions and follow your wishes when the difficult metaphysical questions come up.
Test Your Knowledge: An Estate Planning Quiz
December 2, 2009
How much do you know about estate plans? And how do you know when you need one?
Many people have a vague feeling that they should execute some kind of estate plan eventually, but think (hope) that they really don’t need one right now. On our blog we spend a lot of time telling people that they do need an estate plan, and they probably need one right now—or yesterday!—and we hope we do a good job of explaining why you need one. But maybe it’s time for you to decide when the time is right. This quiz will help you determine just when (and if) you need to do some estate planning.
1. Do you own a house?
Owning your own home means you have at least one significant asset, which affects your need for planning in a number of ways: First, a piece of property cannot be split between people, it will have to be sold (which can take months or longer) and the proceeds divided among your heirs—often at a loss, especially if the house was undervalued to sell quickly. Second, many people who feel they have “small estates and won’t have to worry about Probate or the estate tax” are surprised when they find that the value of their home does indeed push their estate over the line. Third, if you are married, you may need to make provisions for your spouse if you would like them to be able to continue to live in your home, especially if it is partly your own separate property acquired before marriage.
2. Do you have minor children?
If you have minor children and have not made provisions for them in case of your death or incapacity the court will make decisions about their futures. If there are no suitable family members who are willing to step forward and would be suitable guardians, your children might be placed in the care of foster parents or become wards of the state. That is not a chance you want to take.
3. Do you want your heirs to have to wait months (or years) before receiving an inheritance, diminished by the cost of probate?
Probate is sometimes a long and expensive process. Without a plan in place your assets may have to be probated before they can be distributed. Not only does this often take a long time, but the probate fees (which can be considerable) are taken out of your estate—leaving less for your heirs.
4. Do you know how you want to spend your final moments?
Most people don’t die quickly and quietly at the ripe old age of 98. Most people fall victim to accidents, illness or dementia—unable to make their own health care decisions. Without a healthcare directive or living will that specifically outlines your wishes and instructions for your health care and nominates an agent to carry out those wishes, you could end up in a Terri Schiavo situation—costing your loved ones both financially and emotionally.
(NOTE: There is much that goes into your estate plan decision-making; this is only a partial quiz, and not a planning tool. We suggest meeting with your attorney for an in depth interview to determine what kind of planning will be best for you and your family.)
Guilty Verdict for Brooke Astor’s Son Brings Elder Abuse Issues to the Forefront
October 12, 2009
The recent verdict by a New York jury finding Anthony Marshall guilty of stealing from his aging mother, Brooke Astor, while she suffered from Alzheimer’s disease is a sad reminder that abuse of elders does occur. Elder abuse is an issue that is all too common in our society, but one that rarely gets much attention. And it isn’t only the very wealthy who fall victim to elder abuse. According to the National Center on Elder Abuse “between 1 and 2 million Americans age 65 or older have been injured, exploited, or otherwise mistreated by someone on whom they depended for care or protection.”
Financial abuse of elders in particular goes under-reported in our culture, mainly because it leaves no visible scars to tip off friends and family. It is disheartening to discover that in most cases of financial exploitation of elders the perpetrator is a family member, often the victim’s own son or daughter.
When mom or dad begins to show signs of dementia or Alzheimer’s disease, the child who lives closest is often the one who ends up serving as caretaker—both physically and financially; but that may not be the child best suited to the purpose, and it may not be the child mom or dad would have chosen had they been able. One way to prevent this from happening is to make your own decisions about who your physical and financial caretakers will be by executing a nomination of conservator, health care directive, and durable power of attorney. These three simple documents can allow you to choose the best person to care for you, and for your finances, when you are unable to care for yourself.
Don’t let someone you know become a victim of elder abuse. If you suspect a situation of elder abuse please call your local elder abuse hotline for help. If you want to do everything you can to prevent getting into a situation of financial elder abuse yourself, call our office.
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