If you are or will be caring for an elderly parent or other individual, it is important that your parent has the legal documents in place to enable you to help them. Some of the things you may want to do for your parent include helping them with their banking needs such as making deposits, writing checks, or having internet access to their accounts; paying bills; preparing and filing income tax returns; dealing with social security and pensions; and helping monitor their investments. You may also need to hire home helpers, add safety features to their home, sell their house or car, and sign contracts with a retirement community. In addition, you may need to be able to communicate with your parent’s physician to learn what medications they are taking, how those medications are to be taken, and to discuss concerns about changes you see in your parent. It may be necessary to access their health insurance information in order to pay premiums, make claims, select a Medicare supplemental health plan, or select a Medicare drug plan for them. At some point you may need to make end of life decisions such as types of treatment to pursue, level of care needed, and hospice care. To accomplish any of these tasks on behalf of your parent, you must have legal authority.

HOW TO GET THE LEGAL AUTHORITY YOU NEED TO HELP YOUR PARENT

Guardianship – A guardianship is a legal proceeding through the County Probate Court. You must have your parent declared incompetent by the Court. The Court will send an investigator to talk to your parent and notify them that you have applied to be their guardian. The Court will then appoint a guardian. There are two types of guardianships. One is “Guardian of the Estate”, which gives you the authority to handle all of your parent’s financial affairs. You must have an attorney to do this. The other type of guardianship is “Guardian of the Person” which gives you the authority to make decisions regarding your parent’s physical care. A guardianship is the only option to obtain legal authority to act on behalf of your parent if other legal documents are not in place and your parent is no longer competent

DOCUMENTS TO PUT IN PLACE IF THE PERSON IS COMPETENT

What does it mean to be competent to execute legal documents? Even if the person can no longer do everything they used to do, if they can understand who they are, know who their family members are, and know what they own, they may be competent to execute legal documents.

Durable General Power of Attorney – Allows your parent to name someone (the “Agent”) to manage their financial and legal affairs, and to become their guardian if they should ever need one. The Power of Attorney permits the Agent to do just about anything your parent could do, except make medical care decisions.

Power of Attorney for Health Care, Living Will, and HIPAA Release – Specifies your parent’s wishes regarding life sustaining medical treatment in certain circumstances and authorizes someone to make medical care decisions on your parent’s behalf if your parent is unable to do so.

Trust – Your parent can create a Trust, transfer their assets to that Trust now, and name you to serve as Trustee to manage the assets in the Trust.

It is also important that your parents have other estate planning documents in place to direct what should happen to their assets upon their death. These are not documents that you need to care for them, however, they should be part of your parent’s complete estate plan.

click here to go to the Estate Plan Worksheet