San Mateo Incapacity Planning Lawyer
Imagine that you’re involved in a serious auto accident that leaves you in a coma for weeks. While you’re unable to communicate, your mortgage and bills still need to be paid, and medical decisions need to be made.
You might assume that your spouse, partner, or even an adult child can simply pay bills on your behalf, manage your financial accounts, and make important medical decisions for you. However, without the proper authority, they may not automatically be able to take action.
You may have a will or trust arranged, but those documents may not address what happens while you’re still alive but can no longer physically or mentally make decisions for yourself.
That’s the question incapacity planning answers.
It’s easy to say, “I’m young, I’m healthy, I won’t have to worry about incapacity until later in life.” But an accident or medical emergency can leave a person incapacitated at any age, even if it’s only for a relatively short amount of time. Failing to plan ahead can create a host of unforeseen questions that aren’t easy to answer.
An incapacity planning lawyer can help you answer these questions in advance by ensuring that someone is able to step in and make financial and health care decisions on your behalf when you are unable to make those decisions yourself.
At the Law Office of Vidhya Babu, we understand the significant power and authority that comes with giving someone control over your finances and medical choices. Our goal is to help our clients in the San Mateo community build the right level of incapacity planning into their estate plans to meet their specific needs.
Contact the Law Office of Vidhya Babu to discuss how planning for incapacity today can help your family prepare for tomorrow.
What is Incapacity Planning?
Incapacity planning is the process of preparing for the possibility of becoming unable to make financial, legal, or health care decisions yourself. It can include designating a trusted person to act on your behalf, along with creating the legal documents that give them the authority to do so.
Incapacity can be long-term, such as when a person has cognitive decline, like dementia, or it can be temporary, such as when a person is in a coma or recovering from an accident.
While the person is incapacitated their designated representative may be granted the power to make medical decisions on their behalf or handle financial matters.
Because an incapacitated person is still alive, a will does not yet take effect. A living trust may include some provisions for managing assets during incapacity, but it’s often preferred to address these issues with a specific set of documents.
What Does Incapacity Planning Include?
Planning for incapacity typically falls into two categories.
Durable Power of Attorney
A durable power of attorney is generally used to allow a third party to act as a trusted agent on behalf of another in financial or legal matters.
A durable power of attorney can be drafted to give a person a range of powers, including the authority to:
- Pay bills
- Handle real estate matters
- Manage bank and financial accounts
- Manage investments
- Conduct business transactions
- Handle tax matters
- Deal with insurance
In California, a power of attorney does not automatically grant unlimited authority. The specific powers granted depend on the precise wording of the document.
Because these documents can grant a person significant authority over another, consider working with an incapacity planning attorney in San Mateo to help you draft a durable power of attorney document that meets your specific needs.
Advance Health Care Directives
An advance health care directive is a way for an individual to designate someone to make health care decisions for them when they are unable to do so themselves. It can also document a person’s preferences regarding medical treatment and wishes for end-of-life care.
By documenting your wishes ahead of time, an advance health care directive gives your family members and health care providers guidance about your wishes, and keeps them from making difficult decisions on their own.
What Happens Without Incapacity Planning?
Without formal incapacity planning, your family members may not automatically have the legal authority to access your financial accounts, pay your bills, or make decisions about your medical care or treatment.
Not even your spouse. Contrary to what many often believe, being married does not necessarily give your spouse authority to handle financial or health care matters on your behalf.
Without a health care directive in place, family members may have difficulty obtaining information about your condition, or making medical decisions on your behalf.
If someone becomes incapacitated without appropriate planning, a spouse or family member may need to petition a judge to be appointed as a conservator. Depending on the circumstances, a conservator may be given authority to manage a person’s financial and medical affairs by the court.
However, that process takes time, and involves court proceedings, fees, and other legal requirements. During that time, your bank accounts and other assets may be inaccessible, creating an even more stressful situation for your family where bills can go unpaid, and finances may become inaccessible.
Working with a San Mateo incapacity planning lawyer ahead of time can ensure that the proper arrangements are made that give a trusted person the proper authority to act on your behalf when needed.
When Does It Make Sense to Begin Planning for Incapacity?
Incapacity planning may seem like one of those “someday” goals, but the truth is that you don’t have to be in the latter half of life to begin planning for incapacity. Accidents and unexpected illness can create legal incapacitation at almost any age.
If you already have some estate planning documents, such as a last will and testament or a trust, adding incapacity planning documents like a durable power of attorney or advance health care directive can round out your plan.
But even if you don’t have those documents in place, it can still make sense to begin planning for an emergency.
If you’ve recently been married or divorced, welcomed a child, bought a new home, started or are selling a business, or experienced a significant change in your finances, it may be time to create or update your incapacity planning documents.
Likewise, when a child turns 18, it can be a good time for them to consider creating these documents for themselves. Once their child becomes an adult, parents won’t automatically have the same ability to make medical decisions or access information on behalf of their adult children.
Major life changes offer a good opportunity to review and update your estate plan and make sure the people you’ve chosen to act on your behalf are still the right choices.
How a San Mateo Incapacity Planning Lawyer Can Help
Planning for incapacity requires more than just completing a set of forms. Choosing someone to manage your finances and even your health care is a serious decision that can significantly impact you and your family.
Consulting with an incapacity planning attorney can give you guidance on choosing the right person in your life to make these decisions on your behalf, as well as how much authority they should have.
At the Law Office of Vidhya Babu, we believe that incapacity planning should complement a broader estate plan. We work closely with our San Mateo clients to develop customized estate plans that take into account their unique family dynamics, financial circumstances, and long-term estate planning goals.
We can help you with a variety of incapacity planning needs:
- We can review your existing estate plan to identify gaps in incapacity planning
- Prepare or update a durable power of attorney
- Prepare or update an advance health care directive
- Help you evaluate your choice of agents
- Review trust provisions related to incapacity
- Help you choose a successor or alternate-decision makers in case your first choice cannot serve
- Coordinate your estate planning documents so they work together
- Update an existing plan after major life or financial changes
You can’t predict when illness or injury will keep you from making decisions for yourself. What you can do is create a plan in advance to designate someone who you trust to make those decisions on your behalf.
Whether you’re looking to create a plan from scratch, or adding incapacity planning to your existing estate plan, the Law Office of Vidhya Babu can help you understand your options and build a plan that makes sense for your needs.
Contact the Law Office of Vidhya Babu today to schedule a consultation.
San Mateo Incapacity Planning FAQs
Incapacity planning is the process of preparing for a situation in which you cannot make or communicate important decisions for yourself. It may involve creating legal documents that authorize another person to make financial and/or health care related decisions on your behalf.
Planning for incapacity lets your family and loved ones take action quickly when needed, and avoids unnecessary delays or complications that can occur without planning
Planning for incapacity can be beneficial for people of almost any age. Accidents and unexpected illness can occur at any time. Creating a plan now ensures that your family will be able to respond appropriately in the event you can no longer make decisions for yourself, even if it’s only for a temporary period of time.
Your spouse, adult children, or other family members may not automatically have the authority to make medical decisions or manage your finances on your behalf. In some cases, a family may need to petition the San Mateo court for conservatorship to gain the necessary authority, which can create unnecessary delays.
A durable power of attorney generally gives another person the authority to handle specified financial or legal matters on your behalf. The level of authority a person is given is not automatic, and is usually defined by the terms of the power of attorney document.
An advance health care directive is used solely to give a third party some authority over health care related decisions. Advance health care directives can also be used to document a person’s preferences for medical care, treatments, and end-of-life care.
Both documents are vital, but separate, parts of incapacity planning.
Ideally, a person should begin incapacity planning after major life changes occur, such as getting married or divorced, welcoming a child, purchasing a home, starting or selling a business, or undergoing significant financial changes. The key is to have a plan in place before an emergency occurs.
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