Atlanta estate planning lawyers spend a good bit of time assisting their clients with financial concerns, but planning the distribution of your assets after your death is just one aspect of elder law. Incapacity planning is also an important component to any holistic long term plan that addresses all of the possible eventualities of aging, and advance health care directives are an important element.

One advance directive that is widely recommended is the living will and the other is the health care power of attorney. In July 2007, Georgia combined these two documents into one document called the Advance Directive for Health Care. The reason why the health care POA was combined with the living will is because there may be situations that arise that you did not think to address when you were drawing up the living will.

With this document you can state your wishes with regard to the types of medical procedures you are willing to accept and those that you would prefer to deny. The Advance Directive for Health Care addresses the matter of artificial life support and whether or not you want to be kept alive through artificial means should you fall into a terminal condition.

The other foundational advance health care directive is the durable medical power of attorney. When you execute this document you give an individual the authority to act in your behalf with regard to medical decisions should you be unable to make decisions for yourself. There is however a wild card of sorts that is presented by the Healthcare Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. A provision in this act prevents health care providers from sharing what is termed “protected health information” with any third party. So even if you have named an attorney-in-fact to represent you, a hospital may be unwilling to share your information with this person for fear of violating the HIPAA. For this reason it is a good idea to include a HIPAA release with your advance directives to be 100% sure that your wishes are carried out and your chosen representative can communicate freely with your health care providers.

Pyke & Associates, P.C. is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

Estate planning is one branch of the tree called elder law, and when you are engaged in long term planning here in Atlanta the prudent course of action is to prepare for all of the possible eventualities that go along with aging. With this in mind, one of the issues that was front and center during the sometimes heated dialogue that was taking place when health care reform was being debated involved end-of-life issues such as artificial life support. Previous to this, the highly publicized case of Terri Schiavo, who was in a vegetative state and being kept alive by a feeding tube, was a topic of national debate when her husband wanted the tube removed and her parents resisted his decision in court.

The Schiavo case involved a man who was legally married to the incapacitated Terri and the tube was ultimately removed and she passed away a couple of weeks later. Had they been an unmarried couple living together in a committed relationship the law would have viewed the matter in a different way and left the choice up to her next of kin regardless of what her partner had to say about the matter.

How you feel about being kept alive via artificial means should the situation arise is your own personal choice, and you have the legal right to assert your wishes and make sure that there is no legal tug of war between your loved ones. This can be accomplished through the execution of health care directives like living wills and health care proxies. In July 2007, Georgia combined these documents into one document known as the Advance Directive for Health Care.

With the “living will” portion of the Advance Directive for Health Care, you plainly state your preferences in terms of life support or any other medical procedures you will accept or deny. The “health care proxy” portion of the Advance Directive for Health Care is used to name the person you empower to make medical decisions in the event of your incapacitation. If you are unmarried and you want your partner to have this authority, it is essential that you include an Advance Directive for Health Care as part of your estate plan.

Pyke & Associates, P.C. is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

Have you included a plan for long term care costs in your retirement and estate plan? If not, you should. Close to three-fourths of all Americans will need long term care during their retirement years. Long term care includes both personal and medical assistance and may occur in nursing homes, assisted living facilities, or at home. All of these options can be quite costly, but long term care insurance may help carry the burden.

Who Should Have It

If you are above the income and asset level for Medicaid qualification, but below an income that could easily pay out-of-pocket for long term care, you may need long term care (LTC) Insurance. Although everyone over the age of 65 will receive Medicare, this and many other types of health insurance do not cover the personal care associated with extended care needs. LTC Insurance, however, can help you to fund the type of health and personal care you prefer.

If you do qualify for Medicaid, you will have help with long term care costs in a nursing facility. If, however, you prefer to stay in your own home, you will need additional coverage to provide this type of care. In order to receive extended in-home care you will need LTC Insurance, if you can afford it.

What It Does

Your care needs may be simple at first: someone to help with cooking and cleaning; but over time your needs may become constant and might include activities such as bathing, eating, dressing and using restroom facilities. More comprehensive long term care can be quite expensive and may eat away at your retirement savings. LTC Insurance provides help with those costly care bills.

LTC Insurance helps pay for many types of care: nursing home, assisted living, or in-home. With LTC Insurance you have more choices to find the type of care that fits your needs and desires.

When to Buy LTC Insurance

Long Term Care Insurance premiums may be quite high, especially if you are older and possibly closer to illness or disability. If you wait too long, you may even be denied. The sooner you sign up for a policy and begin paying premiums, the lower your premiums may be.

Pyke & Associates, P.C. is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

Have you considered what will happen if you have an accident that leaves you mentally disabled or physically incapacitated? Like most people, you probably don’t like to think about this sort of thing, but since it could happen to anyone at any time, it is best to be prepared.

What a Plan Does

A disability plan is a legally documented arrangement that allows you to have your financial and medical needs cared for if you should reach a mental or physical state that leaves you unable to make your own decisions. You can create a disability plan with the help of your attorney and a few simple legal documents.

Medical Power of Attorney, allows you to name a health care agent to make decisions for you. You may also choose to use a Living Will to state your desires regarding life support and terminal illness care. In Georgia, these two documents have been combined into one document known as the Georgia Advance Directive for Health Care.

For your financial needs, you may use either a Durable Financial Power of Attorney (POA) or a Springing Financial Power of Attorney. A Durable POA allows your chosen financial agent act for you any time after you sign the document. With a Springing POA, your agent cannot act until your doctor states you are incapacitated.

What Happens Without a Plan?

If you do not plan for your medical and financial needs in case of a disability emergency, you may face a guardianship and/or a conservatorship. This is a court-supervised process that evaluates your mental ability to make decisions. If a judge decides you are incapacitated, he or she will name an agent to act as a conservator or guardian.

You should try to avoid guardianship and conservatorship for two reasons. First, the court process might take valuable time when your medical needs may require fast decisions. Second, this process does not allow you any say in who you would like to care for your needs. With a disability plan, you can choose the health care and financial agents you feel would do the best job. With a guardianship or conservatorship the person chosen may not understand or meet your needs.

Pyke & Associates, P.C. is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

If you’re worried about your health today or even how healthy you might be in the future, then you need to create Advance Healthcare Directives to protect you and your estate.

These documents allow you to communicate your wishes to family, friends and health care professionals regarding medical treatments and life support measures. In addition, they allow you to designate someone you trust to speak on your behalf. Al though many states use two separate documents, a Living Will and Health Care Power of Attorney, Georgia has statutorily combined them into one directive referred to as an Advance Directive for Health Care. This document tells your healthcare provider what you want or don’t want in terms of medical treatment. It addresses end-of-life issues such as life support and resuscitation efforts. It also grants authority to someone you choose to make medical decisions on your behalf. The Advance Directive for Health Care must be created in accordance with established state rules and must comply with the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (also known as HIPAA). To learn more about an Advanced Directive for Health Care to your estate plan, contact a qualified estate planning attorney.

Pyke & Associates, P.C. is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

Most of us are familiar with the concept of a “Power of Attorney”. That type of document allows you to grant authority to someone else to speak on your behalf.

For example, you may use a POA to grant an attorney the ability to negotiate on our behalf in a real estate deal. You might also use a POA so that someone can handle your day-to-day affairs while you’re on vacation. But a Power of Attorney isn’t just about convenience, it is also an important document in your estate planning arsenal. In fact, there are two POAs you need and they should both be “durable.” The first is a Property (also known as Financial) Power of Attorney which grants someone the ability to pay your bills and handle your financial affairs if you should become incapacitated. The second POA is a Healthcare Power of Attorney or which is referred to statutorily in Georgia as an Advance Directive for Health Care. This gives someone you choose the ability to make health care decisions on your behalf when you’re no longer able to speak for yourself. These two documents become “durable” when you state there durability in the documents themselves. Durability is important. Being “durable” means that the document does not expire if you become disabled or incapacitated and since that’s exactly when you’d want these two documents to become active, you want to be sure and declare the documents to be durable when they’re created.

Pyke & Associates, P.C. is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.