Estate Planning Attorney Serving Scottsdale, AZ

Estate Planning is as much about you expressing your preferences for who will receive your “estate” as it is about who will be your Agents when you can no longer direct your health, housing and financial decisions. If you were to sustain an injury or become diagnosed with an illness that resulted in a loss of your ability to manage your life, your written estate plan provides a roadmap for those who must step in to help.

There are many documents that might be needed as part of that plan. Some of the documents, such as your Last Will & Testament or Trust, direct who will receive your assets when you die. Other documents, such as your Financial Power of Attorney, Living Will, and Health Care Power of Attorney, provide instructions regarding managing your property and your health decisions when you are alive but no longer able to make those decisions. Every document is necessary. Everyone over the age of 18 should have an estate plan. 

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Financial Power of Attorney or Durable Power of Attorney

A financial power of attorney (sometimes called a durable power of attorney) allows you to appoint someone (an “agent”) to make financial decisions for you in the event you are unable to do so.

In the document you can:

• define “incapacity” for example, one doctor assessment; two doctors’ assessment; or a panel
• nominate successor Agents in case your primary Agent is no longer able or willing to assist you
• authorize your Agent to make general financial decisions and have the authority to pay your bills 
• authorize your Agent to make gifts in the way you have done in the past
• authorize your Agent to work with an elder law attorney to do ALTCS/Medicaid planning if needed

Health Care Power of Attorney or Medical Power of Attorney

A Health Care Power of Attorney allows you to appoint someone (an “agent”) to make health and medical decisions for you in the event you are unable to do so. 

In the document you can:

• define “incapacity”, for example, one doctor assessment; two doctors’ assessment; or a panel
• nominate successor Agents in case your primary Agent is no longer able or willing to assist you;
• provide instruction regarding burial or cremation 
• permit organ donation for limited or more general purposes
• allow your Agent to access your medical records and communicate with your physician and other medical professionals

Mental Health Care Power of Attorney

A mental health care power of attorney allows your Agent to ensure you are able to receive in-patient psychiatric treatment without a court process. 

This authority might be set forth in a separate mental health care power of attorney or be an additional authority set forth in your health care  or medical power of attorney document.

Living Will or Advanced Health Care Directive

A Living Will or Advanced Health Care Directive allows you to express your wishes regarding end of life decisions. You might make a general statement about how much or how little treatment you want if you were in a coma or persistent vegetative state, or you might have more specific instructions. 

Last Will and Testament

This document sets forth who will be in charge of distributing the assets you own when you die. Your Will also sets forth the beneficiaries of your estate. Remember, however, that if you have assets held jointly, the joint owner will probably receive that asset regardless of who you list as beneficiaries of your Will. Similarly, if you have named beneficiaries of your assets, most commonly, your life insurance and retirement accounts, those named beneficiaries will receive those funds at your death regardless of who you list as beneficiaries of your Will. 

Having a Will does not determine whether or not a probate will need to be filed at your death. 

Trust

There are many different kinds of trusts--Revocable Family Trust; Special Needs Trust, Irrevocable Trust, just to name a few. Typically, a revocable family trust is used as part of an estate plan. The Trust sets forth who controls the assets that are titled to the Trust, who benefits from those assets, and any conditions on when or how the assets are distributed. For example, you could limit when a beneficiary receives that assets based on the age of the beneficiary or how many years have passed after your death. Think of the trust document as the instruction manual for your property and assets.