After a major transition like a divorce or death, we work with clients to update many of their Estate planning documents. The primary documents most people think about are Wills and/or Trusts. Those are very important as well as changing the beneficiaries on ALL of your accounts.
Sometimes however, people forget a key document that they should update and that is their Power of Attorney (POA) documents. There are two key POA documents that you should have, a POA for Property and a POA for Healthcare.
The POA for healthcare is critical if you are an Independent woman. You need to assign the critical task of making healthcare decisions for you in case you are unable to make those decisions. The Covid-19 pandemic has made it very real that things happen that we cannot plan for and situations where we may not be able to make our own healthcare choices. In addition to the POA for Healthcare, you can also create a Living Will that allows you to specify what care you would want in a variety of situations. These two documents together will give you and your family greater confidence and security that your wishes will be met. Both of these forms are available online and you do not need an attorney to draft them.
The POA for Property is also an important document. It allows the designated person to make decisions related to your bank, investment and property accounts if you are not able to. For example, if you had an accident but were not conscious and your family needed to access money from an account, the POA would allow the designated person to access these needed funds. This form is also available online for your state.
What a great opportunity we have right now with more time on our hands to take care of these critical documents. Feel free to call at 847-231-0990 if you have any questions.