Page 18 - Amarrilo Senior Link Magazine Spring 2019- Online Magazine

HONORING SENIORS

Estate Planning For Life

Medical and Financial Powers of Attorney

by Lee Franks

f asked to define estate planning, most people might In granting a financial power of attorney, an individual gives
suggest that the phrase has to do with who gets your another person the authority to conduct business on their
Istuff when you die. Although correct, estate planning behalf. The document may limit the authority to specified
also involves planning for life - particularly for life transactions, or the document may grant very broad powers.
beyond normal functional capacity. The law requires the agent to act in the best interests of the
principal and restrains the agent’s ability to profit from the
A 59-year-old business office manager, mother, and relationship.
grandmother struggles to give her employer a full forty
hours each week, to attend one school event for each It is important to point out that a neither the medical nor the
grandchild monthly, to provide her husband with the financial power of attorney gives the agent authority over the
companion he deserves, and to care for her father who person granting it, the principal. The agent cannot make the
is battling dementia. She has tried to make some long- principal do something the principal does not want to do.
term decisions for him and to get his affairs in order.
His financial judgment failed a long time before anyone Effective medical and financial powers of attorney can
realized something was wrong, but the bank tells her greatly simplify caring for an aged or ailing loved one.
she has no authority to act for him. Just as worrying, the Estate planning involves more than divvying up what
customer service representative at his health insurance remains of someone’s belongings. Good estate planning
company is only authorized to speak with her father, contemplates life as well as death, and it includes smoothing
who is unable to handle that call in the professional way out procedures for the very people who made that life worth
he once would have. living – those who provide care and comfort during one’s
final years.
These are common conflicts in which the caregiver finds
him or herself. Commonly, the eldest or the nearest adult
child ends up in the caregiving role by default. In other
words, no one planned for things to happen as they did;
the situation just evolved.

When the caregiver lacks effective legal tools to do
the job, caring for an aging or ailing loved one can
overwhelm financial and emotional resources. Those
who accept the call to provide care may wonder why
they did so, and also wonder how to prevent their own
children from being placed in a similar position one
day. Two basic documents that can assist caregivers are
the medical power of attorney and a financial power of
attorney.

In granting a medical power of attorney, a person gives
to an agent the authority to make health care decisions
on if the person cannot. Typically, the document names
one or more alternates and states where the original
is kept and where copies may be found. While the
principal can require one or more agents to act jointly, it
is not advisable to do so.

After executing a medical power of attorney, copies of
the document should be furnished to the agents and
institutions who will likely need it. Give copies to your
health care providers and contact your local hospital or
clinic about getting the document on file.

18 Amarillo Senior Link