The real reason that you are asking them such personal questions.
Five talking points to focus a discussion around estate planning and power of attorney and make it practical not emotional.
- About me and Paget Will Writing Ltd. I qualified as a solicitor in 1993. I worked in private practice for 20 years specialising in different areas of litigation. I ran contested estate disputes and Court of Protection actions for the last 15 years of that period. I set up Paget Will Writing Ltd in 2016 and have been trading for nearly 2 years.
- Five things to talk about with ageing parents:
• Legal Documents • D to the power of 3: Disorderly Document Deluge • Long term Care Planning • Living Arrangements • I’m asking because I care
Legal Documents
- Will – A written document with your instructions as to how your assets should be distributed after death. If you die without one, the state will decide where your property and money goes.
- Lasting Power of Attorney for Property and Affairs – A document that appoints a trusted person to take charge of your finances and other assets if you lose mental capacity.
- Lasting Power of Attorney for Health and Welfare – A legal document that empowers a trusted person to make healthcare decisions if you lose capacity to do so yourself.
- Advance Decision to refuse medical treatment – anticipatory refusal of specific medical treatment to be used should person lack capacity to give consent in the future.
- Advance Statement – an expression of a person’s current wishes and feelings to be taken into account by a decision-maker in the future.
Disorderly Document Deluge
- Where do you keep your important paperwork? Encourage them to organise the following paperwork and store it in a safe place known to you or their LPA attorney/s:
- Essential Documents – Will; Powers of Attorney, Passport, Pension books, funeral plan.
- Proof of Ownership – title documents, mortgage documents, vehicle registration documents, share certificates, savings bonds, ISAs, pension bonds, life insurance documentation, tax returns.
- Bank Accounts – list of all accounts with user names and passcodes, safe deposit boxes.
- Health Care Documents – Personal and family medical history; authority to release medical information, Advance Directive of Advance Statement.
- Life Insurance and Retirement – life insurance policies, pension and annuity contracts
Long-term care planning
Family Caregiver Alliance – 69% of people aged 65+ will develop a disability. 35% will enter a nursing or care home. Discuss your parents plans.
- Family to give care
- Home carers like Blue Bird
- Nursing home care
- Long term care insurance
Living Arrangements
- Living on multiple floors?
- Will they need to carry laundry or groceries up/down stairs?
- Challenge to manage house and garden later?
- Can they afford to pay for assistance?
- Would down-sizing be appropriate?
I ask because I care about you
It’s hard to talk about:
- I don’t want to think about you dying and nor do you
- I don’t want you to think that I am after your money
- I want to be able to honour your wishes and choices by talking and planning now while you are able-bodied and able-minded.
- Let’s make decisions and arrangements before you need them
- You will have the most input and control now.
